Living With The Remnants
by CloudxKadajLover
Summary: After Cloud has saved the SHM, they find themselves in random circumstances as they learn about life. XD To describe this in three words: silly, fun and extreme randomness! If you want a laugh or even a giggle, don't hesistate to check this out! **DONE
1. Introduction

Okay, I've had this stuff written for months now, and just decided since you guys have left me such nice comments, I should put it up for you all to see! Basically the 'plot' of this is the SHM living with their Niisan post AC (he saved them, duh :P) and discovering things about human life. This was supposed to be a story, but I got random ideas while in the process of typing it and made little one-shots. So each 'chapter' will be a one-shot about something random happening to the SHM, or mostly Kadaj cuz he's great to make fun of! (Even though I love him). This is meant for humorous purposes and there might be moments when they're OOC but hey, it's not like they're naturally jolly so it happens! Anyway, this is inspired by my best buddy Caitlin with her randomness, and I hope you guys all enjoy! This will stay In-Progress since I get random ideas now and then…..and if you get any you'd like me to type about, lemme know! There is no yaoi in this, and when there are times that Kadaj says "I love you" it doesn't mean that in a romantic way, it means in a family way, like when you say it to your mom or something, since Cloud is kinda like their daddy. XD And kisses on the cheek and forehead are fluffiness okay?! I mean come on, if you've read my other fics, you know I can't resist SOME contact between Kadaj and Cloud. As usual I own nothing but the retarded plots and _Modern Human Life for Dummies_ (you'll know what that is after reading the intro). Newayz, read it, have fun, maybe laugh…….even a giggle is good enough for me!

* * *

It had been around three months since the blonde swordsman had taken the remnants into his care. Using every bit of gil he could find, he bought a decent sized apartment for them to all live comfortably. However, it took awhile before they actually settled down.

There were only three bedrooms, so it was an argument who would sleep where. The master one was automatically given to Cloud, since Kadaj stated he was the one working to provide for them and deserved his own space. That left two rooms; so two of the silver haired men would have to share a bedroom. The blonde suggested Loz keep one to himself, while Yazoo and Kadaj share the other one.

The arrangement seemed to work out, until Cloud was hearing them bicker nearly every day.

"Why do I always have to make the bed? You sleep in it too!"

"Because I get up before you do!"

"Oh please. You got up at noon yesterday. Would it kill you to take five minutes of your life-?"

"Why are you so obsessed with making beds? What's the point of making it if you're going to go back to sleep later and mess it up again anyway?"

The gunman growled in annoyance.

"Also, I nearly tripped over your boots this morning! There's a closet- use it!"

"I don't want to put them away if I'm going to wear them again! That's a waste of time!"

Cloud was luckily able to step in at the right moment, as he was afraid if he arrived any later, Yazoo would have strangled Kadaj to death.

By the looks of it, the quiet older brother was keen about keeping things neat and organized. However, his younger sibling was more of the type to kick his shoes off somewhere and leave them there until he needed them again.

So on that day, the deliveryman told the aggravated youth to stay in Loz's room instead. Unfortunately that didn't work out well either.

That night, Kadaj came into Cloud's room around midnight, disturbing the sleeping man.

"Kadaj…what is it?" he asked groggily.

"Can I sleep with you Niisan?"

"Why?"

"Loz snores too loudly. He's kept me up for the past hour."

Being too tired to care, the blonde simply nodded and let the teen slide in next to him. When he woke up in the morning though, Kadaj had somehow moved himself onto the swordsman's chest.

"Kadaj…"

The teen's reply was a sleepy mumble.

"Kadaj, I can't get up with you laying on me."

"So don't get up then."

"I need to go to work."

When the youth refused to move, Cloud got up anyway, causing Kadaj to fall off him and onto the floor. He was met with the teen's glare.

"Why did you do that for!?"

"I told you to get off."

With that said, the spiky-haired man continued his morning procedure while leaving Kadaj on the floor.

So _that_ arrangement wouldn't work out either.

Finally, Cloud decided to give Kadaj his room and he would sleep on the couch. They all started complaining immediately.

"But you work too hard Niisan! That's not fair," Loz started.

"You can take my bed," Yazoo offered.

"I'll sleep on the couch!" Kadaj suggested.

"You should. This is your fault anyway," the longhaired man snapped at his younger brother, who glared back at him.

"From the way things have been going, you'll probably complain about the couch too. It's ok, I don't mind sleeping on the couch. It's comfy," Cloud said, hoping to persuade them.

"So it is my fault…"

The saddened youth looked at the floor.

"If you weren't so immature about things-"

"Quiet Yazoo!"

They all turned to look at the eldest brother. He never talked much and never told anyone to be quiet, especially Yazoo. But the middle brother followed the command and kept his mouth shut.

Sighing, Cloud took Kadaj onto his lap and kissed his forehead, hoping to cheer him up. Dealing with a hotheaded teenager was already enough, let alone an ego bruised one.

"It's not your fault. I just want us all to be comfortable. And I _will_ be comfortable on this couch. Okay? I don't want to hear anything else about it."

The former puppets sighed but made no attempt to argue.

"Okay."

"Good. Now what's with those faces? Come on, I'll get you guys ice cream or something."

The morose faces turned into happy ones, as they looked at their oldest brother.

"Thank you Niisan!"

They all proceeded to hug Cloud, before following him out the door. A few minutes later, they returned and settled down to eat their ice cream in front of the TV.

'_Hmm…...maybe I should buy them ice cream more often,'_ the swordsman thought to himself, smiling.

After that scenario, everything seemed quite fine. They all slept comfortably, especially Kadaj since he had the entire master bed to himself now. He was quite messy though; shoes were left askew, clothes were on the floor, or on the desk, and the blonde couldn't recall the bed being made since the rebel occupied the room.

"Hey Kadaj…...would you mind cleaning up your room a bit?" Cloud asked the teen at breakfast one day.

"Why?"

"Well, I gave up my comfy big bed for a couch so _you_ could be comfortable. The least you could do is keep it neat. Otherwise, you can sleep in Yazoo's room instead."

The teen's eyes widened slightly as his older brother smirked. Without a word, he rushed off to his room.

From then on, Kadaj made it a weekly habit to straighten out his room.

As time went on, Cloud eventually took them shopping. It was an odd and funny experience, but they all got what they wanted. As they were leaving, they passed by a bookstore. It got Yazoo's attention, and he went to look inside for a moment. Coincidentally, there happened to be a book on the front shelf labeled _Modern Human Life For Dummies._ Curious, the middle brother picked up the book, and read the title page.

_Have you lost touch with reality, possibly due to too many mako injections? Been asleep for thirty years?_ _Or are you possibly one of Sephiroth's remnants?_

The gunman looked at the book with a confused look on his face. How did the book know _that_?

_If you are, then this is the book for you! It explains everything having to do with modern human life, including emotions, jobs, electronics, music, even food! You'll know everything you'll need to know to survive by reading this book! Besides, aren't you tired of asking "What's that?" _

Well that was true.

_So turn the page and be clueless no more! NOTE: If you happen to be a Sephiroth remnant, please don't get any ideas on how to destroy humanity. We are not responsible if such things occur so don't bother suing! _

Feeling offended, Yazoo glared at the book, but it would quite handy to have. After all, knowing nothing all the time was quite annoying. Getting some gil from Cloud, he purchased the book and started reading it immediately.

He would never know how useful that book would truly become.

* * *

Heh heh. XD Betcha I'd make millions off of that book. :P Well there you go! The randomness begins with the next chapter!! Reviews appreciated!! 


	2. Cream Puff Incident

Okay, the experience described in this chapter happened to Caitlin once and I got the idea from her, so all credit goes to her! Enjoy! XD NOTE: Do not attempt at home!!

* * *

The teen looked down at his plate displeased. 

"This cream puff is nearly frozen! You expect me to eat this?!"

Yazoo sighed impatiently.

"Put it in the microwave then."

"What's that?"

The middle brother pointed.

"Oh……how are you supposed to use it?"

"You see the numbers on that pad?"

"Yeah?"

"You set how long you want the cream puff in there, then press the start key."

"Oh ok! Sounds easy."

With that, the teen placed his cream puff in the microwave, shut the door and thought for a moment.

"Hmm……I think two minutes should be enough."

He pressed 2:00 into the key and the start button.

"There we go."

He waited the supposed time, then once the device beeped he removed his small treat from it. He went to pick it up, but dropped it.

"It's hot!"

"Well you didn't like it cold, now its too hot! Could you be anymore picky?"

"Oh shut up!"

Picking up the treat again, the teen went to eat it. Suddenly the gunman realized something.

"Wait! How long did you put that in for? If you put it in too long, when you go to eat it, it'll-"

Too late.

The youth's cry of surprise and pain startled the quiet apartment as the filling of the cream practically exploded. It's nearest target was Kadaj's face.

"OWWWW!! MY EYE!"

Loz jumped slightly from the yell and was confused as to what just happened. Yazoo hurriedly got a cloth with cold water to apply to his younger brother's face, who was still whining in pain. It was enough that they didn't hear Cloud enter the apartment.

The blonde surveyed the scene in front of him…….there was Kadaj nearly crying with Yazoo cleaning something off his face, and Loz still confused.

"……..do I want to ask what happened?"

* * *

Poor Kadaj...why I torture him so, I do not know. (Hey it rhymes!) In case anyone didnt get that, when you warm up a cream puff too long, the cream expands inside the puff, so when you bite it well...now you know, lol. Anyway, reviews plz! 


	3. Kadaj and a strip bar, oh my!

This was an idea I had a WAY WAY long time ago while talking to Caitlin on AIM one day. So I typed it out and...here it is. The warnings are a truly clueless Kadaj, a slightly perverted older man and a hysterical/pissed off Cloud. If you can take that, then go ahead and read!! You have been warned: EXTREME RANDOMNESS!! Oh and I know like in the games, 400 gil is not a lot of money, but pretend its dollars okay? And the only CxKness is implied...its not meant to be yaoi, just cuteness, k?

* * *

Cloud let his head fall on the desk, more out of desperation than anything. He didn't even want to look at them……those vile, evil things, taunting him, taking away his sleep, making him stress…….the most scariest thing he had ever known. 

Bills.

Sighing, he looked back at the white sheets of paper, trying to sort out what to do in his head.

'_Let's see……..electric bill is 900 gil.…..plus rent, which is 1200 gil.…..the water is 500 gil.……my credits cards are 400 gil each…….I have 5,000 gil in my account……that all together is 3,800 gil…..not counting the phone bill or the cable bill……' _

The blonde was about to hit his head on the desk again but he heard the door being opened, and the teen peeked his head in.

"Oh! There you are Niisan! What are you doing?"

Curious, Kadaj walked in, and looked over his older brother's shoulder.

"What are all those papers?"

"Bills."

"What's that?"

"Payments you have to make to companies for what you use- electricity, water, the apartment, phones….."

"Oh……so this is where your money goes?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Taking an interest, the teen sat himself on Cloud's lap and picked up a random bill.

"Wow! This one's a lot of gil……..no wonder you work for such long hours…..do you have enough to pay for all these?"

"Well……..most of the time. The ones I can't pay for immediately I pay for later."

"Oh…….you know, Niisan, one of us could get a job to help pay for these, since we use most of everything anyway-"

The blonde smiled but shook his head.

"No, it's alright. None of you know much about working and I'm not going to make you. "

"But, we can't rely on you for everything, Niisan. It's not fair to you."

"Kadaj……."

The blue-eyed swordsman pulled the teen into a more comfortable position on his lap.

"I appreciate you wanting to help out, I really do, but it's not for you to do right now. I don't mind working as I do, I'm used to it by now. Working is something everyone has to do for a living. It's not exactly fun either, except in some cases. You're only sixteen, you don't need to worry about such things right now. And you don't have to worry about me either- I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life."

"Really?"

"Yes. And you want to know why?"

"Why?"

"Because even if I have to work for 10 hours 5 times a week, and bring in just enough money so we can live here, I know I can always come home and spend time with you. That makes it all worth it."

The beautiful youth smiled happily at his brother.

"So no worries okay?"

"Okay….."

Kadaj hugged the spiky-haired man, as he did very often nowadays.

"I love you, Niisan."

"Love you too. Now go watch TV or something, paying bills is not exactly entertaining. I don't want you to fall asleep."

The teen giggled before getting off Cloud's lap and returning to the living room. The minute he closed the door, Loz's hysterical laughter echoed through out the apartment.

"Shut up will you!? Niisan is busy paying bills, he needs to concentrate!"

Cloud chuckled as he looked back at the vile slips of paper. '_Now how much money did I calculate before…?'_

Eh, then again, he never was really was too good at math anyway.

* * *

That following Saturday, the Strife family did their normal routine of cooking breakfast, washing the dishes, cleaning the house in general, then of course food shopping. In was six in the evening when they were finished. The silver haired trio waited as Cloud went to the nearby bank to gather some more gil. However, it was taking awhile, and Kadaj was getting impatient. After another five minutes he figured he could walk around the stores for awhile so he got up. 

"Where are you going?" Yazoo asked immediately.

"Just to walk around a bit. I'll be back."

"Kadaj, it's not exactly safe for us to walk around just anywhere."

"Oh, would you relax? Besides, it's not like we wear black leather or carry dangerous weapons anymore."

"That's not what I meant."

The middle brother picked up a few strands of the teen's hair.

"…….alright, I get your point. But we go out sometimes and nothing's happened! So I'm going!"

"But-"

"BYE YAZOO!"

With that the youth went off quickly and the gunman sighed hopelessly.

Out of frustration, Kadaj walked himself quite far from where his brothers were. He paused and looked around his surroundings. He was in an unfamiliar part of town, but it wasn't like he couldn't find his way back.

Deciding to tour a bit, he looked through all the little shops and stores, seeing a few of them had signs that read 'Help Wanted'. He was almost eager enough to go inside and ask for a job, but he remembered what his Niisan told him and suppressed it.

However, he passed by one place where he could hear the dull sound of music. Whatever the place was had no windows only a door. Curious, the teen pushed the door open and was surprised by what he saw.

He wasn't in a store at all, but some type of bar. There were a few people present, all men as he could tell, sitting by small tables. The most extraordinary thing was there were woman dancing around poles in rather strange outfits. What was the point of this?

Suddenly, a few men started whistling and making cat calls at one of the women. Then they started tossing gil at her. They tossed more at her, and Kadaj figured they were paying her for dancing. From the looks of it, they paid an awful lot. Just enough to possibly help Niisan……..

Having an idea, the teen strode over to the bartender, who was laughing and serving a few customers drinks. He had to be somewhere in his 50s and was quite stocky.

"Excuse me?"

He looked over at Kadaj and since it was a bit dim in the place, couldn't see him too well.

"Hey there! What can I get you?"

"Um………a job would be nice."

The man blinked.

"Huh?"

"I was wondering if there are any applications you had…….I want to get a job to help out with money and-"

The bartender laughed loudly, startling the teen.

"Heh, good one! How old are you anyway?"

"Sixteen."

"Sixteen?"

The man moved closer and focused on Kadaj's face.

"Whoa. How'd you get in here?"

"The door was open……."

"Look, kid, go work at a store or something, you got your whole life ahead of you……I mean, you _could_ work here….."

He looked the confused teen up and down, making him feel uncomfortable.

"But I'd get arrested, and you shouldn't even be here-"

"But I want a job!"

"Well if giving people a good time is your kinda thing just wait 'till your older."

"Giving people a good time? I'm pretty good at that."

Yet again, the bartender burst into laughter. Kadaj did not see at all what was so funny. He always made his Niisan smile and laugh- wasn't that giving him a good time?

"Kid, really, thanks for the laughs, but you really better get out of here-"

"KADAJ!"

The teen jumped and spun around, to see Cloud there with a shocked and angry look on his face. He rushed toward the teen, almost looking relieved he was okay.

"What are you doing in here?!"

"I just wanted to see what was inside-"

"Why?!"

"Because I heard music and-"

"Why didn't you come back out?!"

"Why would I?"

"Have you LOOKED around at all?!"

"It just has some women dancing. I don't see anything wrong with it."

The blonde hit himself in the forehead.

"He was looking for a job….."

Cloud's head snapped so fast to look at the bartender he could have broken his neck.

"WHAT?!"

"I swear it's what he said-"

The swordsman's head snapped back at Kadaj. He had a look of disbelief on his face.

"Kadaj, do you have ANY idea what this place is?"

"……….No."

The blonde sighed heavily.

"You're in a _strip bar_. You're not supposed to be in here, you have to be 21 or over, and even so it's a horrible place……..why would you want to work here?!"

"Well, I wanted to get a job to help you out, and all those girls do is dance and get a lot of gil-"

"Is that was this is about? Oh God…….Kadaj, those girls are _strippers_!"

"……which are?"

"People who take off their clothes in front of other people for money!"

Turquoise eyes widened considerably at this realization.

"What?!"

"Exactly! AND YOU-"

Cloud glared at the bartender.

"How dare you let underage people in this bar and then ENCOURAGE A YOUNG TEENAGER TO WORK HERE?! WHAT KINDA SICKO ARE YOU?"

"I wasn't encouraging him! I swear-"

"OH REALLY? I saw you looking at him you disgusting-"

"Well, he's……..he's cute, what did you expect me to-"

The bartender didn't finish his sentence and Kadaj gasped as the furious blonde punched the man straight in the face, knocking him out. Several people looked at Cloud in surprise.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT?"

They turned away immediately.

"Hey! You can't just go knocking out people!" another bartender cried out angrily, glaring at the delivery man.

"You going to do something about it?"

A bit startled, whoever this spiky haired guy was, he certainly didn't want to be messed with. The young bartender would be damned if he was going to get knocked out too.

"Look…….just go okay? You're scaring away the customers……"

Kadaj stood where he was, still in a bit of a shock. He had never seen his Niisan get so mad before……..he turned to look away for a moment and cried out at what he saw.

"Ah! Niisan! I get what you were saying now!"

The blonde looked at the teen before his eyes widened, witnessing the strippers………well strip. The youth had turned away and was blushing furiously.

"Come on let's get out of here."

Grabbing Kadaj's wrist, he walked as quickly as he could out of that damned place. He continued his quick walking until they were far away from the bar.

"To think I was applying for………oh, Niisan I'm sorry, I didn't know, please don't get mad at me-"

Sighing, Cloud slowed down a bit and loosened his grip on the youth's wrist.

"I'm not mad at you. I can't be………you didn't know any better. I'm sorry if I startled you."

Smiling a bit, the rebel leaned onto Cloud, happy he wasn't angry anymore.

"Well…you can get pretty scary when you're mad."

Chuckling, the blonde put his arm over the teen's shoulders.

"I know you don't know a lot……..just be careful okay? You should read that '_Modern Life For Humans_' book. I don't want you getting into anymore………odd situations."

"Yeah…..oh and thanks for standing up for me."

"Of course."

"Niisan, can we get ice cream?"

"Don't see why not."

With those words, the two walked off back toward the other two brothers.

* * *

There you go! In my sick little mind, Kadaj is the million-dollar ho. And that is because my other friend liked to write yaoi drabbles so she used to ask me for ideas and I'd put Kadaj with whoever I could think of! Also, I think he's the Square Enix whore because throughout Advent Children they're always zooming in on some part of him, his face, his middle section, his ass like half of the time...(not that I'm complaining) and then they had him dancing, and then those few seconds when he's walking beside Rufus and his hips are swaying (DAMN, he's got bigger hips than I do! XD) I truly believe they created him for the use of sex appeal. Hee hee, anyway you just gotta love poor lil' clueless Kadaj. Did you laugh, cry, fall out of your chair, whatever, just leave me a review!! 


	4. Of storms and horror movies

Okay, I thought of this after I saw Pulse, which was a pretty freaky movie...so yeah. Yay randomness!!! Enjoy!!

* * *

Turquoise eyes looked lazily out the window to view the nearly black sky, which lit up occasionally when lightening was present. The rain pounded on the rooftops and it was a storm the remnants had never seen before.

"Do you think it's ever going to stop?" the curious teen asked as he continued staring out the window.

"Well eventually. I hope Niisan's okay," the middle brother said, a bit of concern in his voice.

The weather certainly wasn't like it was now in the morning. It was just cloudy, which it normally was anyway. The storm had started about an hour ago and the blonde delivery man wasn't home yet.

"I'll call him."

The youth got out of his seat and went to his room, picking up his black cell phone. Finding the swordsman's number in his phone book, he pushed a button twice to initiate the call. He brought the device to his ear, waiting anxiously as he heard the familiar ringing sound. With relief, he heard a click.

"Kadaj, is everything okay?"

"Yeah……where are you?"

"I'm on my way home………I should be there within an hour, I'm quite far away."

"Okay……are you alright?"

"Yeah, just wet. Don't worry, I'll be home soon. Okay?"

"Okay! Bye!"

Satisfied, the youngest sibling hung up.

Returning to the living room, he picked up the remote and made himself comfortable on the couch. Clicking on the television, he started searching through different channels to see if anything half-way decent was on.

"You know, too much television can kill your brain."

"Pft. That's ridiculous."

"It doesn't mean that literally. It just means it takes away your intelligence."

"Not if you watch intelligent things."

"As if you do."

"For your information, I do sometimes thank you!"

"Yeah! We were watching this thing about sea turtles the other day."

Yazoo raised an eyebrow.

"Sea turtles, Loz?"

"Yes, and I didn't even know what sea turtles were so I found it interesting."

Chuckling, Kadaj paused his continuous clicking as something caught his attention.

It seemed like some type of movie where this girl was looking around petrified for some reason. Whatever place she was in was nearly dark. There was also some type of odd music in the background.

"What's this?"

"No idea."

"Looks creepy," Loz said, a slightly worried expression coming onto his face.

"What, are you scared?"

The teen smirked at his oldest brother.

"No!"

"Shh you guys! Something's going on…."

Identical cat eyes focused on the television screen.

The girl was cautiously walking down the hall, and the odd music increased in volume. She approached a door, and burst it open, making them all jump slightly. However there was nothing in it.

"I don't get this….." Kadaj started, confused.

The girl turned around and there was a monster looking thing right behind her, holding up a knife.

The youth cried out and nearly fell off the couch, Loz screamed and the other twitched.

"Oh, this is one of those horror movies…." the middle brother explained.

"Horror movies?! That would explain a few things," the youngest sibling said, regaining his composure.

"Oh my gosh, you guys look!" the short haired man cried out.

The girl had screamed as well and had fallen on the floor, and the monster thing was approaching her.

"Why is she just standing there?!"

"It's just a movie Kadaj-"

"Still!"

The girl grabbed a lamp that was on the bedside table and threw it at the monster thing. She went to run away, but the thing grabbed her and stabbed her fatally, causing Loz to cry out in surprise.

"OH MY GOSH! CHANGE IT!"

With wide eyes, Kadaj grabbed the remote and clicked to the next channel.

The setting this time was much more relaxing, involving little kids playing around in a yard. He sighed with relief, along with Loz. The long-haired man chuckled to himself.

"You guys are funny. I didn't expect you to react like that."

"You didn't get scared 'cuz you knew about it already!"

"Because I _read._ You know, that thing you do with your eyes to understand words? It's quite useful."

The eldest sibling giggled, and the teen narrowed his eyes at his brother's sarcasm.

"No, really?! Gosh, I learned something new today."

"Did you hear that Loz? He _learned_ something! Isn't it fascinating?"

The brawny man laughed, and Kadaj threw a pillow at his sarcastic sibling.

"Shut up!"

A loud crack of thunder made them all jump slightly.

"Hope the power doesn't go out."

The gunman had spoken too soon, as suddenly the lights started blinking, and within seconds they were trapped in complete darkness.

"You just had to open your mouth didn't you?"

"It's not like I knew it would actually happen!"

"Now what are we supposed to do?"

"Oh, quit acting like a little kid. I think I have a flashlight somewhere in my room."

With that said, Yazoo got up and went to his room.

"I hope the power comes back soon," Loz said quietly, not enjoying their now dark surroundings.

"Me too."

The sound of the teen's ringer going off made them both jump.

"That must be Niisan!"

Rushing to his cell, Kadaj answered it immediately.

"Hello?"

He could hear nothing from the other line.

"Hello?!"

Static was what answered him, then the line was cut off.

Confused, Kadaj shut his phone.

"Maybe there wasn't any signal…..?" the oldest sibling suggested.

"But there had to be some signal, or else the call wouldn't have gone through."

"What's wrong?"

The mature remnant had found a flashlight and was shining it on his little brother.

"I think Niisan called, but it didn't go through……"

"What do you mean?"

"When I picked up, all I heard was static, then the line cut off."

"Hmmm……that's weird."

The TV suddenly went on.

"Oh good, the power's back!" Loz said happily, grabbing the remote.

"Wait a minute…….how come none of the lights are on then?" the teen questioned.

They all looked at each other, suspicion in their eyes.

"……..I'm scared."

"Loz-"

The lights came on, and they all sighed.

"Finally……..okay, let's just forget that ever happened," Kadaj said, a little freaked out at what had just happened.

"I agree," Yazoo said, nodding.

Once again, they all settled around the television.

Whatever movie was on, it seemed interesting so they continued watching it. It wasn't until twenty minutes into the film that things started to get creepy.

"Is this one of movies again?" Loz asked, concerned.

"Oh, it won't hurt to watch it," the youth decided.

"Suppose not," his older sibling agreed.

Nonetheless, the worried man grabbed a pillow to hold on to.

As the movie wore on, the youth took a pillow himself, as it was at a suspenseful part. It went by slowly, and as the seconds went by, the two brothers found themselves clutching their pillows tighter, waiting for something to happen.

It just so happened that at the point in the movie where a door was slammed open, the apartment door was pushed open as well, revealing a dim figure.

Yazoo jumped as both Kadaj and Loz screamed in fright, and were so startled that they fell on the floor.

"Did I scare you guys? I'm sorry-"

Looking up from the floor, the scared teen realized the figure was just Cloud.

"NIISAAAAN!"

Relived, Kadaj got up and rushed to the soaked man, hugging him tightly.

"You're okay! It was horrible, the power went out, and then my phone rang, but there was nothing but static-"

"-and then the TV went on by itself-" the startled man continued.

"-and we were watching this scary movie and-"

"Oh, that's why I scared you! It was me that called too, but the second I did the signal went out."

"Oh…Niisan, can you promise me something?"

"What?"

"When it's stormy outside…stay home."

Chuckling, the blonde let go of Kadaj and smiled.

"Don't know if I can always do that, but then again, it's a good idea. All I got accomplished was getting soaked and gathering 600 gil. I should go change……can't afford to get sick."

Cloud went off to his former room and the rebel glared at Yazoo, who was laughing quietly to himself.

"I never knew you two could be so hysterical…."

"This is all your fault, making us watch this stupid movie!"

"_My_ fault? You said you wouldn't mind watching it! And look at you, you fell on the floor in fear!"

"So what?"

"So that is what makes it funny."

Ignoring the growl that was directed at him, the middle sibling picked up the remote.

"Let's see if there's something more relaxing to watch since you two can't take a simple horror movie-"

Before he could change the channel however, the power went out again.

"NIISAN!"

* * *

XD!!!!! Man it's fun fooling around with the SHM like this!!! Anywayz, review plz!! 


	5. CxK Yaoi Outtake

MWAHAHA!! Okay I got this idea awhile back and couldn't help but type it out!!! THIS CHAPTER HAS YAOI!!! If you don't like it don't read it!!!! And at this point I don't think I need to tell you what couple it is XD (just look at my screenname). Anyway it's NOT supposed to be related to the plots of the other chapters, which is why I refer to it as an outtake. So enjoy clueless cute innocent Kadaj and Cloud being a horny bastard!!! ;D

* * *

The teen placed the chair under the light, and stepped on it. Unscrewing the dead light bulb, he replaced it with a new one.

"You got it?"

"Yeah!"

Happy this was the one problem with electronics that didn't end in someone getting electrocuted or nearly setting the apartment on fire, Cloud smiled as he turned to put Kadaj's newly washed clothes in his closet. Bad thing to do.

While it seemed everything was alright, the youth thoughtlessly stepped toward the end of the chair as he screwed in the light bulb. The chair started tilting and he cried out in fear.

"NIISAN!"

The blonde jumped at the sound of the yell and spun around- only to have Kadaj fall on him, knocking him on the floor. The chair fell on the teen, who kicked it away.

"Sorry Niisan……"

Blushing slightly at the position they were in, he went to pick himself up and get off Cloud- but he slipped and fell on the swordsman again, this time accidentally kissing him. They both stood there with their eyes open in shock, until-

"Is everything okay in here? I heard-"

Yazoo stopped dead as he witnessed the scene in front of him with wide eyes. Kadaj shot up immediately, waving his hands furiously.

"It's not what it looks like! I was trying to put in a new light bulb, but I stepped toward the edge of the chair, and it started tilting and I fell on Niisan, and then I tried to get up, but I slipped and-"

The teen's face was crimson and Cloud was still a bit dazed over what just happened. The long haired man blinked, still staring at Kadaj.

"I'm telling the truth!"

"Yeeeaaahh…….I'm just gonna…..go….and leave you two….."

Yazoo made his way out of the room and shut the door.

"You okay Yazoo? You look like you just saw a ghost or something…"

"I'm fine, Loz."

"Are you sure? You look really pale…."

"I'M FINE."

"Okay! Geez….."

Kadaj covered his face with his hands in mortification, and Cloud blinked.

"Well……that went well."

"Oh yeah. _Really_ well."

"I'm being sarcastic. Now are you going to get off, or are you going to 'accidentally' kiss me again?"

"_Niisan_!"

The blonde chuckled as Kadaj got off of him, still blushing.

"Oh don't worry….he'll get over it."

"You think so?"

"Yeah…"

"That didn't sound very sure."

"Well how do I know? I'm just trying to make you feel better."

The teen sighed.

"Thanks…….I guess…..by the way….um…..what was that?"

Cloud stared at Kadaj.

"You're blushing about it and you don't even know what it is?"

"Well I know obviously it's something intimate! I haven't gotten to reading that book yet!"

"Oh yeah……well, it's a kiss."

An uncomfortable silence formed between them.

"Niisan…when is it okay to kiss people?"

"When you love them and care about them. It's a sign of affection."

The swordsman could tell by the teen's blank look he didn't know what affection was.

"Affection is kinda like a warm feeling. Like love. You do know what that is right?"

The turquoise-eyed teen nodded.

"…so a kiss is something you give to someone to show you love them?"

"Exactly."

Relived that the subject was over, he continued putting the clothes on hangers and putting them in the closet- that is until Kadaj came over suddenly, and kissed him again.

"Kadaj…"

"What?"

"Look, you have to understand something-"

"You said it's okay to kiss people you love!"

"It's a different kind of love! It's…it's not like friendship love….or family love…."

"Then what is it?"

"It's…oh I can't explain it!"

Cloud sunk on to the teen's bed, sighing.

"It's like…when you want to be with someone romantically. To be in a relationship. To marry that person…that sort of thing."

The teen was quiet, and the blonde found himself fighting his emotions.

"……I think I get it."

"It's confusing. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Niisan."

Kadaj sat next to Cloud and hugged him. It was a gentle, innocent gesture and the swordsman knew it- but he couldn't keep himself contained anymore. He pulled away a bit and brushed the hair out of the teen's face before kissing him gently. He broke away after a few seconds, to see the remnant's dazed and slightly confused face.

"Niisan….."

Cloud kissed him again, a bit more demanding this time.

"..You said…."

"Forget what I said."

"But-"

Claiming the open mouth, the blonde slipped his tongue inside, surprising the teen even more. However, he didn't say anything, just simply enjoyed the passionate kiss. He tried kissing back in same way, although obviously he was a bit clumsy. They both paused after awhile to breathe, the swordsman smiling. At least he knew Kadaj was enjoying it, although he was blushing lightly.

"Niisan…should we be doing this? I mean, Yazoo and Loz are right in the living room…they could come in at anytime…."

"I think after what Yazoo saw earlier, they won't bother us for awhile."

"But…I'm not even sure what's going on…."

"Practice makes perfect, yeah?"

The flushed youth blinked at Cloud before smiling slightly.

"I suppose…."

The lustful man came onto Kadaj again, this time gently pushing him on to the bed. He began to explore the youth's neck with his mouth, making the teen sigh softly. When he was finished, he returned to Kadaj's mouth and kissed him deeply. He slipped a hand under the boy's shirt, over the smooth, flawless skin. Kadaj broke away from the blonde's lips to moan softly. He was feeling sensations he'd never felt before- and while he didn't know what they were, he found them soothing somehow. Wrapping his arms around Cloud's waist, he pulled him onto himself and kissed him again, letting his fingers travel up the warrior's spine. As they lay there, kissing and gently touching each other, the teen noticed it was pretty warm in the room- or maybe it was just him.

To their surprise, the door opened again- they were too absorbed in other thoughts to consider locking it- and to their horror, they saw it was Loz this time, who shrieked and slammed the door shut.

"OH MY GOD, THEY'RE- THEY'RE-"

"I told you not to go in there!"

"I didn't know!"

The oldest brother started to cry, probably more out of shock than anything. Kadaj giggled, and Cloud shook his head, smiling. He got off the teen and went to finally lock the door.

"What are you doing?"

"Locking the door. So now we can't be disturbed."

"Wait……you mean…."

"Of course I'm not done yet! The best has yet to come."

* * *

Go ahead and strangle me for ending it like this!!! I'm so horribly evil aren't I? Anyway I just had to get this outta my head and there you go!! Poor Yazoo and Loz, they're probably scarred for life now. XD Anyway, while you're fuming because I refused to continue on with the yaoiness, leave me a review plz:D 


	6. The mystery of toast

lol, here's another random idea. It was rainy and cold today and I get hungrier than usual on these types of dayz. Obviously Kadaj does too now!! XD And there is also another shot at teasing Kadaj's girly hips (which are smexy XD) Anyway, enjoy!!

* * *

It was a rainy day and the bored youth felt hungrier than usual. At the moment, he had an odd craving for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Happily going into the kitchen, he took out a couple slices of bread, grape jelly, and peanut butter. He didn't want his bread cold though, he felt like having it warm and toasty, like how Niisan gave it to him with eggs sometimes. It occurred to him he didn't know exactly _how_ to make the bread warm and toasty.

"Niisan…."

The blonde looked away from the television to peer at the turquoise eyed teen.

"Yes?"

"How do you toast this?"

Kadaj held up a piece of bread.

"You put it in the toaster."

Getting up from the couch, Cloud indicated the device.

"Oh ok….."

The turquoise eyed teen placed the bread into the toaster.

"You know, you've eaten quite a bit today."

Since he didn't work today, the delivery man had cooked them breakfast, which was pancakes, eggs and bacon. The thin youth had served himself three pancakes, a large spoonful of scrambled eggs, and six pieces of bacon. Cloud didn't think someone as thin as he was could consume so much at one time, but his plate was clean within ten minutes. About two hours later, he had taken out a pack of chocolate chip cookies and ate nearly half of it while watching TV. When Loz went to get a bag of chips, he ate those too, and now was about to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Well……I feel hungry for some reason."

Chuckling, the swordsman went to serve himself a glass of iced tea.

"As I see. But after this sandwich, don't eat anything until dinner. We wouldn't want you losing your slim, girlish figure."

The two older remnants who were also occupying the living room burst into laughter at this comment, and Kadaj glared at Cloud, offended.

"_Niisan!_"

Laughing a bit himself, the blue eyed man turned to smile at Kadaj who had a pout on his face.

"Sorry…..but it just _is_. You're hips even sway like a girls'."

Glancing at his brothers, who were still laughing, he suddenly thought of a come back and smirked.

"That doesn't stop you from looking at them."

Loz choked, Yazoo raised an eyebrow at Cloud and Kadaj's smirk widened as he saw a light blush come onto the soldier's cheeks.

"…..you really DO stare at Kadaj's hips?" the long haired man questioned, bewildered.

"I don't STARE….they're….just…..there…."

Satisfied the joke wasn't on him anymore, the beautiful rebel turned to look at the toaster. His bread didn't seem ready yet.

"Niisan…….does it normally take this long for bread to toast?"

Taking advantage of the subject change, Cloud went over to check the toaster. He snickered as he saw the reason why the bread wasn't toasted yet.

"What?"

"Kadaj……you have to push the knob down for it to work…."

The short haired man snickered as well, while his younger sibling chuckled. Now it was the teen's turn to feel slightly embarrassed.

"Smooth move Kadaj. _Real_ smooth," the gunman teased.

"SHUT UP!"

* * *

XD Review plz?! I got more ideas so stay tuned!!! 


	7. Kadaj  iPod Milkshake madness! XD

Sorry, this would have been done sooner, but I got an attack of wallpaper ideas! XD Anyway, here Kadaj discovers teh wonderful item known as an iPod. You should know at least one of the songs I feature here, if you don't, GO AND DOWNLOAD THEM IMMEDIATELY!! Or you could just do a YouTube search. XD Of course, I don't own the songs, but I luvs them and maybe even you do! Anyway, enjoy the randomness!!

* * *

On an evening on a Wednesday as Cloud was zooming off home, he paused in front of a pizzeria to buy dinner for him and the silver haired remnants. He noticed there happened to be an electronic store next to it, and couldn't help looking at the poster that had a picture of an iPod nano on it. It would be nice to have something to entertain himself on those long trips he sometimes had to make. However, to have an iPod, he needed music. To get music, he needed the internet. To get the internet, he needed a laptop. And to get a laptop, he needed extra gil, which he did _not_ have. Therefore, he decided to save up until he could purchase the thin MP3 player. 

After about a month, the blonde had saved up a good amount of gil and went on a Saturday morning to buy his laptop, modem and iPod. By the time Kadaj woke up that day, everything was set up and the iPod was charging as it received its brand new music files. Curious, he looked at the screen, reading over the names of various songs. He then looked down at the iPod, a confused look on his face.

Going into the kitchen where Cloud was sipping his cup of coffee, the silver haired teen took a seat next to him.

"Niisan, what's all that stuff you bought?"

"Well, the bigger item is a laptop. The smaller one is an iPod."

"And those are? OW!"

Not realizing that Yazoo had entered the kitchen, the long haired man had thrown '_Modern Human Life For Dummies' _at his younger brother's head, where it bounced off back on the table.

"We did buy that for a reason you know."

"Why did you throw it at me for?!"

"Because now _you're_ getting annoying asking questions all the time."

"I'm not being annoying, I'm just curious! Right, Niisan?"

The blonde, who was chuckling at the current situation, stopped as he noticed Kadaj was surveying him hopefully.

"Well…you _are_ curious…but the book _is_ there, so-"

Glaring at the his older brother who had a satisfied smile on his face, he pouted.

"Fine! I'll look it up then."

"That would be a brilliant idea, wouldn't you agree Niisan?"

Cloud couldn't help but laugh, even though Kadaj shot him a look as though he had betrayed him. The rebel then turned toward his teasing sibling.

"Shut up! You think you know everything!"

"Well, I wouldn't say _everything_, but at least I have common sense."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, not to long ago, you figured simply placing bread in the toaster would somehow magically turn it toasty. The knob isn't there for decoration you know."

"Alright, I get the point, you don't have to rub it in! Meanie."

"My goodness, I feel so horribly offended."

It didn't surprise Yazoo much when his annoyed, ego-bruised brother grabbed the book and whacked him over the head with it. And it really didn't help Kadaj's mood as he noticed Cloud was still laughing.

"Oh, don't let it get to you Kadaj. Shouldn't you be used to it by now?"

"It's still annoying though!"

"I'm sure it is, but it doesn't hurt to have a little humor."

Reaching out, the swordsman tickled the teen's sensitive neck, and smiled as Kadaj started giggling.

"Okay….."

Relieved the moody youth was cheerful again, he stopped tickling him and returned to his coffee.

"Does that taste good?"

"Well, it depends on how you like it. You probably wouldn't like mine, it's a bit strong. I can make yours lighter if you want."

The turquoise eyed teen nodded, and started looking through the book. Noticing a cranberry muffin on a plate not far from him, he grabbed it and took a large bite out of it.

"Mmm……this is good!"

"Kadaj……" the middle brother started.

"What?"

"That was mine."

Kadaj peered up at his older brother innocently.

"Oh…..well…..mine now."

With that, he took another bite.

"But it was the last one!"

Sighing, the rebel placed the muffin back on Yazoo's plate.

"I don't want it now, you already bit it!"

"We're related, we have the same germs, it doesn't matter!"

At that moment, Cloud placed Kadaj's cup of coffee in front of him. It was considerably lighter and had an adequate amount of sugar. Eager to try the caramel-colored beverage, he went to bring the mug to his mouth.

"Careful, it's ho-"

The blonde had said these words a bit too late, as Kadaj had taken up a large mouthful of the hot beverage, and his eyes widened as he felt it burn his mouth. Going to spit it out in the sink, he made a noise of pain, and glared at his brother for the umpteenth time as he started chuckling.

"Why is that so hot?!"

"It's supposed to be, otherwise it won't taste good…..here."

Giving the teen a glass of orange juice, Cloud watched as the youth downed it within seconds.

"Better?"

The teen nodded, looking at Yazoo who was smiling at him.

"You really are hopeless, you know that?"

* * *

Later on that day, after having read about laptops and iPods in that infamous book, Kadaj was curious to find out how it really worked. Picking up the light object that was left on the dining room table, he put the headphones in his ears, and started scanning through the songs. He knew none of them obviously, so randomly chose one to play. Unfortunately he hadn't checked the volume level. He cried out and jumped as some random rock tune blared in his ears. He quickly lowered the volume before listening to the words on the song. 

_My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard _

_And they're like, its better than yours_

_Damn right, its better than yours_

_I can teach you, but I'd have to charge_

A confused look came onto the teen's face. Why would anyone sing about a milkshake? And what would they have to teach?

_I know you want it_

_The thing that makes me_

_What the guys so crazy for_

_They lose their minds_

_The way I wind_

_I think it's time_

Still quite confused, the teen put the device on shuffle and went to the next song. The loud chorus startled him:

_Crawling in my skin_

_These wounds they will not heal_

_Fear is how I fall_

_Confusing what is real_

He clicked to the next song, hoping to find something more soothing to the ears. This song was another rock song, but lighter and had a nice beat to it.

_Speak to me, when all you got to keep is strong_

_Move along, move along like I know you do_

And even when your hope is gone

Deciding he liked this song, he listened to it for a little awhile before moving on.

_Let the bodies hit the floor_

_Let the bodies hit the floor_

_Let the bodies hit the floor_

_Let the bodies hit the…._

For the second time, Kadaj jumped as the vocalist screamed and extended the word 'floor' to a point he thought impossible without losing breath. _'Niisan has odd music on here…..'_

He went through about five more songs, finding them interesting, then paused on one he saw was called "Mama." He listened to the catchy guitar solo before the vocals started. For some reason, he felt intrigued by the lyrics.

_And when we go don't blame us, yeah,_

We let the fire just bathe us, yeah,

You made us oh so famous

We'll never let you go.

It was almost scary how these words almost related to his own situation with Jenova. It only got worse as the song carried on. When it was finished, Kadaj had a bewildered look on his face. Figuring it was just coincidence, he clicked to go to the next song, only to have that damn milkshake song come up again.

After about an hour, he figured he liked the bands called 'My Chemical Romance', 'Red', 'Daughtry', 'The All American Rejects' and 'Linkin Park', the songs that didn't scare him at least. Finding the albums, he took to listening to them for the rest of the day as he looked up in the music section of _'Modern Human Life For Dummies.'_

Cloud decided to share the iPod with Kadaj, so one day he took it to work, while one day he left it home. The day that it was home, the beautiful teen listened to it nearly all day, and soon enough started bobbing his head along with whatever song he was listening to. Both Yazoo and Loz found the habit odd, and even humorous. They did not know what awaited them.

A couple weeks later on a Friday, Kadaj offered to wash the dishes, now that he had something to occupy himself with while doing so. While surprised, Cloud took the offer, and smiled as he watched the youth move around a bit to whatever he was listening to. It could have been because it was humorous to watch, or because the blonde was captivated by Kadaj's hips moving ever so slightly. Pushing this thought aside, he left shortly to fill out bills, while the other two silver haired remnants remained in the living room. There was nothing but the sound of the television…..at least for the moment.

For some odd reason, that milkshake song came up often when Kadaj put the iPod on shuffle. So much in fact, that he nearly knew the words by heart. So when it started playing again for the umpteenth time, the young remnant unconsciously started singing along with it.

"….my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like, it's better than yours, damn right, its better than yours, I can teach you, but I'd have to charge, my milkshake…"

Almost horrified, the two brothers turned slowly to look at Kadaj, before looking at each other.

"Is he _singing_?" Loz started, not sure if he should be happy or scared at the current situation.

"It's not even that……do you hear _what_ he's singing?"

With that note, they listened inventively the lyrics.

"…I know you want it….the thing that makes me…..what the guys go crazy for…they lose their minds, the way I wind….I think it's time….la la la la la….want it all….la la la la la…..the boys are waiting…la la la la la…want it all…la la la la la…the boys are waiting…."

As Kadaj started the singing the chorus again, the short haired man fell and started rolling on the floor with laughter. A bit disturbed and confused, Yazoo got up and yanked the headphones out of the teen's ears.

"WHAT in the HELL are you singing?!"

Startled and embarrassed, Kadaj glanced at Loz who was still on the floor laughing hysterically.

"I…it's called the Milkshake song, and its keeps coming up on shuffle so I…kinda…learned it…"

He felt the heat rise in his face as Yazoo stared at him with a look similar to this: O.o

Hearing the laughter, Cloud stepped out of Kadaj's room and chuckled as he noticed Loz still on the floor, catching his breath.

"What happened? What's so funny?"

"Oh my gosh, Niisan, you should have _heard_…..Kadaj was singing about that his milkshake brings all the guys to the yard-"

The blonde snickered.

"It's a SONG, I wasn't really- I don't even know what it means!"

"You don't want to know. And speaking of knowing….Niisan, why would you have that song on your iPod in the first place?"

Cloud blinked at the question, then blushed slightly.

"Eh…well…I heard it on the laptop…and it kinda reminded me of Kadaj for some reason…"

He realized this was not the right thing to say, as Loz fell back on the floor laughing, the long haired man stared at him, honestly scared now and Kadaj blinked.

"But what does it _mean_?"

"Kadaj, don't worry about it…."

"But if it reminds you of me, I wanna know!"

"No you don't. You _really _don't."

The curious teen looked at Yazoo, who was still staring at Cloud, as though in disbelief.

"Why? All it's saying is that somebody bought a milkshake and it attracted people to their yard I guess….which I don't get what the big deal is, when they can just go and buy their own milkshakes."

Losing his self control, the former gunman burst into laughter at his younger brother's theory. Cloud joined him shortly, and while Kadaj was not really sure what they were all laughing at, he couldn't help but giggle a bit himself.

* * *

Really wanna see Kadaj sing teh Milkshake song? Go on my YT account and look through my viddies, you'll find it!! Yesh, the milkshake song knows its master well. XD lol, I actually laughed while typing this, so you had to get SOMETHNG outta this. Oh, and songs featured in this ficcie are Milkshake By Goodnight Nurse, Crawling By Linkin Park, Move Along by The All American Rejects, Let the Bodies Hit The Floor by Drowning Pool and Mama by My Chemical Romance. Anyway, reviews plz!!! 


	8. Happy Halloween Horrors

IT IS ALIVE!!! Or finished rather lol. My god, I am SO SOOOOOO sorry all of you, I blame the sleeping random idea bunnies!!! And my laziness, but still I apologize for keeping you guys on hold and giving you a Halloween fic three days before Halloween (So oraganized aren't I? DX) Anyway HUGE thanks goes to Chaxra-san and TheBlackLady, I used the ideas you guys gave me in this chapter. Because of me being a lazy ass and making you guys wait so long, I made this chaper extra long, I think the longest chapter in the series so far...and to keep from this happening again I'm going to start the Christmas chapter asap since I kinda planned that out already. This is very cute, silly and random, I'm proud of it, you guys deserve this and I hope you all enjoy this, if you don't I will allow you to throw all the yucky Halloween candy you get at me! XD This chappie includes:

-A very creepy Halloween store

-Fake vampire teeth

-Kadaj in drag

- A mysterious black blob!

-A very frightened Loz

- The Kadaj way of carving a pumpkin.

- A sexy kitty outfit

- Candy, kids and a short temper, oh my!

- Yazoo has an 'Extreme' hair color change

Catch your interest?! Good. Then get reading!!! XD

* * *

As the late summer turned into early fall, nothing much changed except a slight decrease in temperature. To Kadaj however, it was much more serious.

It was a cool sixty five degrees one evening as Cloud was returning home, and he noticed as he walked through the door the TV-glued teen had himself wrapped in a blanket.

"What's with the blanket?"

"It's _cold_! Don't you feel it Niisan?"

"Well yeah, but its nothing-"

The blonde stopped mid sentence as he saw Yazoo taking a seat next to Kadaj in a sweatshirt, holding a cup of tea.

"It is pretty chilly Niisan. You should wear a jacket or something to work so you don't get sick."

The bewildered delivery man stared at them for a moment before realizing they've never been exposed to cold before. Perhaps they were sensitive to it? Then again, they were both petite.

"You know it's only going to get colder right?"

"It _is_?"

Chuckling, the blonde shook his head as he headed into the kitchen to get something to eat. As Kadaj's attention turned back toward the television, a commercial for a store selling Halloween costumes came on. The silver haired teen watched over it curiously.

"Oh, it's October isn't it? That means Halloween will come soon."

"Hallow _what_?"

"Halloween. It's a holiday for mostly younger children. They dress up in costumes and go around asking for candy on the 31st."

"Those are weird costumes though…"

"They're supposed to be. Halloween is supposed to be a scary-themed holiday."

At the word 'scary' the listening youth felt a bit uneasy but didn't say anything.

"Oh, Halloween _is_ coming isn't it? Think we should buy candy?" Cloud asked, going to open the fridge. Looking over the contents, he groaned. "After we buy food that is…"

"Oh I want candy!" the excited youth exclaimed.

"Not for _you_, for the kids," the middle brother corrected.

The turquoise-eyed teen pouted and the golden-haired chuckled at his expression.

"I'm pretty sure we'll keep some at home for us. Anyway, since we are in dire need of food, I'm going to go food shopping."

"Can I come with you Niisan?" the innocent-looking youth asked.

Cloud thought for a moment. The last time he had brought Kadaj with him food shopping, he ended up spending 30 more gil than he meant to. As expected, the excited remnant went and picked up goodies such as cookies, brownies, cupcakes and ice cream. He also grabbed his favorite cereals and placed all these items in the cart without Cloud's notice.

_"Er….Kadaj…I don't think you _really _need all this…"_

_"But Niisan, you don't even buy it much!"_

_"You haven't cared to check the prices have you?"_

_"Well…no, but just for now! Please Niisan?"_

_"Kadaj, I don't know if I'll have enough for all this-"_

_"_Please_? Just this once?"_

Cloud found out no matter how strict he tried to act with Kadaj, that adorable face the teen put on when he wanted something was just too cute. It would be like denying a puppy a piece of food, with its big round eyes. Ignoring Kadaj was just something that couldn't be done, no matter how hard you tried. So the soft hearted man succumbed to the young remnant's baby face and bought him all the treats he wanted. This time however, they really did need food, and he would only buy candy if he had enough. But with Kadaj, he was pretty sure the observant teen would want to buy Halloween cookies, candy and the planet knows what else.

"Only if you promise not to take half of the store with you."

Giggling, the beautiful youth nodded.

"I promise."

"Really?"

"Yes really."

"Really really?"

"YES really really-"

"_Really_ really really-"

"_Niisan!_" the slightly exasperated teen cried out, although he had an amused look at his face.

Chuckling, Cloud shut the fridge, smiling at the blanket-clad teen.

"Fine, you can come. Just go put on more suitable clothing, since you're so cold."

"Okay!"

With that said, Kadaj left his blanket behind to go into his room. The spiky haired man looked over at Yazoo suddenly, who had a smile on his face listening to their previous conversation.

"By the way, where's Loz?"

A thoughtful expression came on to the long haired remnant's face.

"Good question…"

Placing his tea on the living room table, the puzzled remnant went to look in his older brother's room- and returned with a bewildered look on his face.

"What is it?"

"He's…he's _reading_."

Cloud blinked.

"….reading what?"

"The '_Dummies_' book…"

The blonde dittoed the gunman's expression.

Kadaj came out of his room, dressed in jeans and a black hoodie with a shirt underneath. He looked curiously at his family's expressions.

"What's wrong?"

"….Loz is reading."

Turquoise eyes widened.

"Are you serious? I didn't even know he could read!"

The other men laughed, that is until Loz returned from his room.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Can we go now?" Kadaj asked, unsuccessfully hiding his smile.

"Yeah, come on," the blonde nodded, a smirk on his face as he went toward the door. "See you guys later."

They left, the young remnant giggling to himself and the oldest brother feeling a bit offended.

"This has nothing to do with me does it?"

"Oh no, of course not, why would it have anything to do with you?"

* * *

Kadaj walked cheerily along the street alongside Cloud, looking around at the little shops. He noticed some of them had orange, black or purple decorations up. Some big orange thing with a smiley face was plastered on some of the windows, a big furry animal with black wings was hanging from the ceilings, and white wavy things were also put on some windows. Odd.

"Niisan, are those supposed to be Halloween decorations?"

"Yup."

"What are those weird things plastered on the windows and stuff?"

"Pumpkins are the orange ones, bats are the black animals, and the white things are ghosts."

"What do pumpkins do?"

The blonde couldn't help but snicker.

"They don't do anything; it's a vegetable."

"…what does it have to do with Halloween?"

"It's not really Halloween its associated with; its associated with fall because that's when they grow."

"Oh…"

Cloud chuckled to himself at the teen's cluelessness, although he knew it wasn't his fault.

"You're not laughing at me are you?"

"Of course not. Come on, we're here."

They stepped into the supermarket, and the curious teen looked around at the few decorations they had up. Taking advantage that Kadaj wasn't focusing on any treats yet, Cloud picked up the necessities they needed, and just when he thought he would be able to get out of this place without spending extra money, he heard an excited cry come from the teen.

"Look Niisan! They have those orange things on cookies!"

Going over toward the freezer area, Kadaj picked up a pack of those prepared cookies in which all you had to do was cut the dough in slices and throw it in the oven. This pack had little smiley pumpkins imprinted on the dough.

"And ghosts too! Oh look and these come with icing! And-"

"Kadaj," Cloud started warningly. "Remember what you promised?"

"Yeah. But they're Halloween cookies, we have to be in sprit don't we?" the teen pleaded, cradling the three packs of cookies in his arms.

The blonde couldn't help but smile.

"Alright, alright, but leave one. Otherwise we get no candy."

Horrified at the thought of no candy, Kadaj placed the ghost-decorated cookies back on the shelf and put the other two in the cart.

"Thank you!"

"No problem. Now the candy aisle is down there. While I calculate how much this all cost, go and get three different bags of candy. THREE. Not five, not six, three. Got it?"

Nodding, the cheerful beauty went toward the direction of the candy aisle. He was surprised by the amount of candy that was currently selling and wished he could buy more than just three bags. But he stayed to his word and after careful thought, picked three different types of candy bags and returned to his Niisan.

"Good. That should do."

Feeling accomplished, the smiling youth followed behind Cloud as he approached the cashier.

"You know, we're also selling pumpkins for only 10 gil each," the cashier mentioned as she bagged their items.

"That's alright," the blonde said quickly before Kadaj could say anything.

As they left the store, the wondering teen asked a question that Cloud was expecting.

"Why would they sell pumpkins for? Decoration?"

"Yeah…and for carving."

The questioning teen raised an eyebrow.

"Carving?"

"Yeah…after you take the seeds and stuff from inside it, you can take a knife and carve a face into it. Then you would put a candle in it so everyone can see it."

"Ooh…that sounds fun."

"Did you want one?"

Kadaj blinked and smiled over at blue-eyed warrior.

"You wouldn't mind?"

"It's only ten gil. I'll get you one tomorrow."

"Thanks, Niisan."

* * *

That following Saturday, there were several things Cloud needed to take care of, such as bills, taking his motorcycle to get checked, buying a few new appliances such as the toaster which did nothing but burn things now, among other things. The weather was fairly nice and he didn't want to keep the silver haired men cooped in the apartment, so he dropped them off at the mall, each with a fair sum of gil. They thanked him and went off inside happily. They hadn't been to the mall since they went to buy new clothes.

Curious to see if anything Halloween related was selling, Kadaj led the way around the mall, his brothers behind him. He paused suddenly in front of a store that was completely decorated in black among other Halloween type things. It even looked kinda creepy. Sparking the teen's interest, he went to walk inside it, only to have his fearful brother stop him for a moment.

"You're going in _there_?"

"Why not? You can stay out here if it scares you too much," the young leader teased.

"It's just a store Loz. But if it does really bother you, you can stay-"

Feeling irritated at his two younger brothers for making fun of him, he put his strong front on.

"No, it's fine, I'll go."

"Are you sure? Because we'd rather leave you out here than if you ran out screaming-" the middle brother continued, smirking.

Kadaj laughed, and thoroughly annoyed now, Loz went straight into the store as though to prove otherwise that he was NOT scared. That was until he took a look around at all the creepy things they had out for display.

"They got a lot weird things here….eyeballs and stuff," the puzzled teen remarked.

"They sell decorations too…"

"Oh, do they? I want to buy some…"

"That's not a bad idea. You okay Loz, you're awfully quiet."

The listening youth snickered and the short haired man frowned.

"I'm FINE."

"If you say so."

Smiling, Kadaj came to an open plastic case that held what looked like white teeth. Confused, he picked one up and saw that the canines on this pair of teeth were unusually long. There was a mirror in front of him, and curious, he fitted the pair of inhuman teeth in his mouth. They fit surprisingly, and he chuckled as he saw how creepy he looked as he smiled with those fangs poking out. Having an idea, he grinned evilly, and went looking for Loz within the store. He found him by the costume area.

_'Figures,' _he thought to himself, smirking.

"Hey Loz!"

"Hi- AHHHHHHH!"

The frightened man went running as fast as he could while the pointy-teethed youth was bent over laughing.

"YAZOO!"

"Wha-OW!"

"Sorry- something's wrong with Kadaj- he's an animal or something-"

"_What?!_"

"He- has these REALLY long teeth out of no where-"

Hearing his younger brother's hysterical laughter, the puzzled gunman went to find him, and started chuckling as he realized what the situation was.

"Oh goodness Loz, they aren't real-"

"What do you mean?!"

Kadaj recovered from his laughter and pulled out the false vampire teeth, grinning. His oldest brother looked relieved.

"Ooooohhh, they're fake!"

"No, I just spontaneously grew fangs."

"What does spontaneous mean?"

The sarcastic teen rolled his eyes, and Yazoo took that as an indication that he'd have to answer the question.

"It means naturally."

"Naturally what?"

"Occurring."

"…"

"…forget it," the patience worn remnant concluded. "Where did you get those anyway?"

"They were in a bin in one of the aisles."

"_Exposed_ like that?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Kadaj, someone could have put that exact pair of teeth in their mouth and then put it back and now you just that in _your_ mouth."

The quiet youth thought over this for a moment.

"Ew!" he cried, throwing the false teeth several feet away. They flew and hit a customer in the head, who looked around curiously.

"Nice," Yazoo commented sarcastically, smiling.

"I didn't see him there! Oh, there's decorations!" the excited youth cried out, going over toward them. There were many types; steamers, plastic pictures to put up, plates, cups, table mats. Kadaj picked up a few and looked back at his siblings, who were going through costumes.

"Clowns….fairies…witches….heh, this one isn't too bad. Kadaj look!"

The long haired remnant held up a orange, red and black witches' dress, with the normal torn cuffs and hems.

"What's that for?"

"It's witch's costume."

"What's a witch?"

"A woman who casts spells and makes potions. You should try this on."

Loz laughed and Kadaj narrowed his eyes at his older brother.

"Very funny."

"No, seriously! We're going to be here for awhile, might as do something interesting."

"I'll only put it on if you put something on too."

"Deal."

Sighing, Kadaj snatched the dress and went to the dressing rooms.

"Wait, you forgot the hat!" Yazoo cried after him, throwing the item at him. The irritated teen caught it and went off to put on the costume.

He returned a few moments later, pointy witch hat on and all, and was greeted by his brother's laughter.

"You know it honestly doesn't look that bad. Probably have to hem it, since like half of it is dragging on the floor-"

"SHUT. UP."

"But besides that, it kinda suits your figure," the gunman continued, as his older brother was too busy laughing to respond.

"Whatever. You had your laugh, now you try something on!"

"Hey guys, I'm- Kadaj?"

A familiar voice broke into laughter, and, with horror, the dress clad teen saw it was Cloud. He felt the color rise in his face as his brothers started laughing again and took his hat off to throw it at Yazoo, glaring.

"You see Niisan, we were just trying on costumes- well he was anyway-"

"I HATE you," the embarrassed teen growled at his brother.

"As I see…actually, you don't look too bad in that Kadaj," the blonde complimented, smiling.

Somehow, this statement coming from Cloud seemed to have a completely different meaning than when it came from Yazoo.

"Aww, look, you're blushing-"

"SHUT UP YAZOO!" Kadaj yelled, ignoring the fact that he was indeed blushing, and he spun around to change back into his normal outfit. When he returned, he threw the costume at his teasing sibling, and went to gather his decorations.

"Niisan, is it okay if I buy this?" the pretty remnant asked innocently, his cheeks returning to their normal color.

"Sure, they're cute. I'll wait for you outside," the reassuring man said simply.

"Okay."

Kadaj went off to the cash registers- and instead of a person, there just seemed to be a black blob by the counter. Confused and slightly nervous, the tentative teen approached said blob.

"Er…hello?"

It said nothing.

"Hello?! Aren't you supposed to be person or something?"

Still, nothing.

"Kadaj, where's the cashier?"

The two older remnants went over to their younger brother, holding a few items of their own.

"I think it's supposed to be that blob over there, but it isn't responding. Maybe it's just a prop or something."

"Blob…?"

Kadaj pointed.

"Oh….I'm pretty sure it's a person."

"But it doesn't even look like a person."

"Maybe it isn't…."

"Loz, honestly-"

"But it doesn't even look like it's breathing!"

They all thought over this for a moment. Annoyed, the impatient teen went right up and put his items on the counter.

"HEY I'm talking to you! Quit playing around, whatever you are, and scan this!"

Still, the blob did not move.

Almost angry, Kadaj leaned over the counter- only to have the blob spring up, revealing a skull for a face. Scared out of his wits, the frightened teen yelled and jumped backward away from the counter, knocking into Yazoo who happened to be behind him, and Loz screamed, running out the store.

"Loz what-"

"I'm NOT going back in there, there's some scary thing-"

"OW, Kadaj, look what you did-"

"It's not my fault!"

The 'blob' could not contain itself and burst into laughter, witnessing the young teen knocking into his brother, who were both now on the floor, items scattered around them.

"Man, I guess it's a convincing costume huh?" it asked.

Kadaj stared at it, horrified.

"Oh wait, let me take this off-"

The cashier pulled off his mask, revealing a normal human being behind it. The panicking teen relaxed at this, ignoring Yazoo's snickers.

"Sorry about that- just wanted to test my scary skills. You know, since this IS a Halloween store."

Angry about being humiliated, Kadaj got up and glared at black clad teen.

"Just scan the items," he said darkly.

All humor was wiped from the cashier's face by the look on the remnant's face.

"Oh okay…."

He quickly scanned the products, and the wrathful youth nearly threw the proper amount of gil at him. The former gunman was still chuckling at the situation, but said nothing, as he knew better than to speak when Kadaj was annoyed. However, his mood lightened a bit as they left the store to witness a confused Cloud and a still startled Loz.

"What happened?" the blue-eyed man asked, puzzled. "I heard you yell, and then he came out screaming-"

Still feeling a bit embarrassed about the situation, Kadaj said nothing, but of course the amused remnant was happy to answer.

"Well, the cashier was dressed in a costume, so when Kadaj went to inspect him, he jumped and scared him, then he knocked into me because he jumped backward and then Loz went running out of the store."

Cloud chuckled, and smiled at the quiet teen.

"It's alright, Kadaj, it's normal to be scared. That's the whole point of Halloween. Come on, there's a chocolate store not far from here. I'm sure that'll lighten up things."

The beautiful youth perked up at the word 'chocolate' and smiled at the spiky haired blonde.

"That it would! Where is it?"

Smiling, Cloud took the teen's wrist and led him off toward said chocolate store, the other two remnants close behind.

"I am NEVER going into that store again."

"We did say you could stay outside, but you didn't want to listen so-"

"Well I didn't know I would be scared so bad-"

"Oh please, if an ant going across your room scared you, what wouldn't?" the teasing youth added and they all laughed happily, even Loz.

* * *

The next morning- or early afternoon really- Kadaj woke up to find the house quiet, which it never normally was on a Sunday. Curious, he stepped out of his room and saw no one appeared to be home. They had left _without_ him? How dare they?! Looking at the counter, he saw there was a note and read over it with an annoyed glance.

_Kadaj-_

_I didn't get to finish all my errands yesterday, so I took your brothers with me to finish them. You were still sleeping so I didn't want to bother you. Your pumpkin is by the window- I figured you can entertain yourself by carving it until we came back. If you wanted any candy, it's in the cabinet by the fridge. Be careful with carving, don't cut yourself and clean up after you're finished. See you in a little while-_

_Niisan. _

Ah, well he had a point. The sleep-craving youth was not a happy camper when he was woken up early. And he had completely forgotten about the pumpkin! But now there was no one to cook him breakfast. Pouting, Kadaj looked to see if there was anything he might consider eating, until he remembered the Halloween cookies. A sly smile came onto his face and he went digging into the fridge, finding them at the back of the lowest shelf.

'_It's not the healthiest to eat, but…maybe if I leave some for them they won't mind,' _the hungry teen thought.

Removing them from the fridge, Kadaj quickly read over the directions, and collected a pan and some butter. After buttering the pan and placing each little square of cookie dough an inch apart on it, he set the oven to 350 degrees and simply placed the pan within it. Finding '_Modern Human Life for Dummies'_ he read about 'Pumpkin Carving' in the Halloween section while the cookies baked. After about ten minutes, the treats were done, and the eager teen left them to cool for awhile. Grabbing his pumpkin, he placed it on the largest part of the counter. Taking a knife, he cut a circle with some difficulty at the top of the orange vegetable. Pulling it off, he looked curiously at the innards of the pumpkin, which seemed to consist of seeds and orange stringy stuff.

"Yuck," he said as he emptied the contents into the garbage, his hand getting sticky as he pulled the stuff out.

Once it was empty, he went to carve triangle-shaped eyes as the book recommended, but the knife did not seem to be cooperating. It didn't seem quite sharp enough, and after a few more minutes, Kadaj threw it into the sink with annoyance.

"I need something sharper.." he thought out loud to himself.

An idea occurred to him suddenly, and after washing his hands, he went off to the closet, going on tippy-toe to reach the top shelf. Nonetheless, he couldn't reach it quite well and went to grab a kitchen chair to stand up on, grumbling about why he wasn't as tall as his brothers. After shuffling through things for a few moments, he found what he was looking for.

"Finally!" he cried out in triumph, pulling out the dust-covered sheath of the Souba.

Getting down from the chair, he pulled out the light weapon and looked over it. Despite being in the closet without use for several months, she was still in good condition. Smiling, the determined beauty was sure his sword would be more of use to him than that stupid knife. Returning to the pumpkin, he poked and sliced into it twice in different directions. The pumpkin's left 'eye' was square instead of triangular, but whatever. Pulling the piece of pumpkin out with a smaller knife to leave a hole, he repeated this procedure for the other eye, the nose, and the mouth, he just cut wider. Within a few moments, the pumpkin was carved, the first six inches of the Souba was covered in sticky orange residue, and a satisfied smile was on the teen's face. Sure, the face of the vegetable looked robotic with all the squares, but Kadaj didn't seem to care very much. Placing his trusty sidekick on the counter, he went searching for a small candle and found one. Lighting it carefully, he placed it inside the pumpkin, and admired his work. It looked kinda cool actually, with the eyes glowing and all.

Happy, he washed Souba and placed her back in her sheath, and returned her to the closet. He cleaned up, just as Niisan wanted, and finally settled down to eat his Halloween cookies, which were very yummy. Leaving a few out for the rest of the family, he sat on the couch to watch some television. He came across a Halloween cartoon, and watched it with interest. He giggled at some humorous part, and at this moment, Cloud and his brothers returned home.

"There you are. Everything okay?" the blonde asked.

"Cookies!" Loz cried out happily, going over toward the plate left on the counter.

"You made cookies?"

"Well, you didn't make me anything to eat, so just thought I'd bake them," the innocent teen answered sheepishly.

"Oh look, he carved the pumpkin! Kinda looks weird though…why is everything square?" Yazoo asked, confused. "Aren't the eyes supposed to be triangular and-"

"Shut up, it's square because I used the Souba."

The long haired man gave his younger brother an odd look.

"The _Souba_?"

"The knife wasn't sharp enough so…"

Cloud simply chuckled at Kadaj's resolve as he put his new bought items away, and Loz's mouth was too full with cookies to respond immediately.

"…well I think it looks cool," he commented after a moment.

"Thanks, Loz. Sorry it doesn't suit Mr. Perfectionist here."

The cookie-eating man snickered.

"I am _not_ a perfectionist. It just looks weird-"

"Niisan, do you like my pumpkin?"

"Yes, it's cute-"

"See? So shut up and leave my pumpkin alone! Go buy your own if it bothers you so much!"

"Well _sorry_, I didn't know your pumpkin was so precious to you. Anyway, we bought you a costume."

Kadaj blinked.

"For what?"

"We figured we could send you out to give out the candy," the blonde explained.

"But why me?"

"Because you're the youngest. We're a bit old for wearing costumes."

"What kind of costume is it? If it's that witch costume, I swear-"

Chuckling, Yazoo shook his head and threw a package at the curious teen. Opening said package, Kadaj took out the contents and a bewildered look came upon his face.

"A _cat_ costume?"

"We didn't want anything too scary, or else none of the kids would want to come near you-"

"-but we didn't want anything too simple because then it would be too lame."

"So we decided on that," Cloud concluded.

"Hmm…."

"Go try it on!"

"Alright, alright."

The speculating teen got up and went into his room to change into the costume. He returned a few minutes later.

"Wow!"

"Hee, Niisan look!"

The busy warrior paused for a moment, and looked at Kadaj, nearly dropping the plate he was holding.

The costume consisted of a full-body black leather outfit, almost like the teen's old one but much snugger since it was one layer. It included furry cat ears glued on a black headband, paw-like gloves, and an attachable black tail. It seemed fitting for the curvy rebel, but imagining one thing and seeing it in front of your eyes were two completely different things. Especially in this case.

"It's not too bad. I like it," Kadaj commented, observing his right paw with a smile. "What do you think Niisan?"

Seeing as this question was directed at him, the ogling man snapped back to his senses.

"It's…nice. Really nice. Looks good on you," the blonde said honestly, still in half-gazing mode.

The beautiful teen giggled at the compliment, as he noticed his Niisan had been staring at him, and still kinda was. For some reason, he didn't seem to mind- he felt flattered.

"I like it too. How long is it till Halloween anyway?" Loz asked.

"About two weeks."

"Aww…."

"But we still have decorations and stuff to put up don't we?" the eager teen claimed. "We should start today!"

"If you say so. There's candy sorting to do too."

"Okay then. Lemme go change."

Somehow Cloud was able to restrain himself from protesting against this statement as he watched Kadaj head back toward his room.

* * *

After a few days, the decorations were put up, the candy was sorted into a large bag, cookies were made, and soon enough, it was Halloween. By six o clock, Kadaj changed back into his cat costume, and saw there was something else in the bag that the package came in. It was a small can labeled 'Extreme Color' and the color seemed to be a bright orange, obviously for the holiday. Reading the back, he saw it was temporary. Retreating from his room, he held up the small can questionably.

"Who bought this?"

Both remnants looked up from the couch.

"Oh, I did," Loz admitted.

"What for?"

"Dunno…"

"Why would anyone want their hair bright orange anyway?" the middle brother asked, puzzled.

"Maybe if they were dressing like a pumpkin or something…"

An idea came to Kadaj suddenly, and he started shaking the can, eyeing his pretty-haired brother evilly. Yazoo caught his gaze and an imaginary sweat drop appeared next to his head.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I think I know whose hair I'd like to spray bright orange…"

The quiet remnant's eyes widened in horror as though Kadaj had just announced his death sentence. The eldest brother laughed, realizing the situation.

"_No_! Are you crazy?!"

"Aw, come on, Yazoo, don't you want to be in sprit?"

"Not if it includes my hair being orange! Get _away_!" the frightened man cried, getting up from the couch as his little brother approached him, holding the spray can as though it were a weapon.

"It's temporary, come on!"

"Are you sure about that?!"

"Positive. Now hold still!"

Sighing, Yazoo took a seat by the kitchen table, and let Kadaj spray every last inch of his precious hair the same color as the teen's pumpkin, which was still in good condition. After a few moments, the cat-dressed youth surveyed his work proudly before giggling.

"It's _perfect_. Loz look!"

The short haired man glanced over and started laughing immediately.

"Oh my gosh!"

As they both laughed, Yazoo went into the bathroom to see himself in the mirror and winced. It was worse than he imagined.

"Well, I'm off. Tell Niisan I should be home by ten. Happy Halloween Yazoo! Take that as a present from me!" Kadaj said cheerily, grabbing the large bag of candy and heading toward the door.

"And what a wonderful present it is," the now orange haired remnant muttered sarcastically as the other giggled.

* * *

The eager teen went off into town, passing by all the nicely decorated houses. There were a lot of younger kids out, all dressed in their weird little costumes. Remembering he was supposed to give the candy to these weird beings, he saw a little girl dressed as a fairy a little ways in front of him.

"Hey! Kid!"

The young girl stopped and turned around, looking at Kadaj curiously.

"Come here, I have candy for you," he said, holding out a handful of treats.

At the word 'candy' the little girl rushed over and held out her bag at once, which the giving youth dropped the candy into.

"Thanks Mister! I mean Miss!" she cried out, and went off along happily, leaving behind an offended Kadaj.

Ignoring this situation, he went off walking around to find another kid, only to have someone poke his lower back. He turned around to see a young boy dressed as some type of monster.

"Trick or treat!"

Kadaj raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"I said, 'trick or treat'. It means I want candy."

"Oh…"

With that resolved, the cat gave the little monster four pieces of candy.

"Thanks! Hey guys! GUYS! This guy's got a lot of candy!" the little boy yelled across the street.

Kadaj wondered who he was yelling at until he saw with horror a rather large group of kids come rushing at him all at once, holding up their trick-or-treat bags.

"TRICK OR TREEEAT!"

The panicking teen quickly gave out candy, not caring how much, to all of them, but it wasn't as simple as it looked.

"Hey, can I get another piece of candy, you gave him four and I only got two!"

"I got one, that's not fair!"

"I don't like this type of candy, can I get a different one?"

Kadaj's patience was wearing very thin and he regretted taking up this job. Finally however, after pleasing all the children's needs, they left, and he noticed he had given away a quarter of the candy. Nice. He turned to walk around some, only to be startled by:

"TRICK OR TREAT!"

Where in the hell did all these kids come from so fast?! The poor cat was surrounded by the annoying things. Quicker than a normal human could, he started passing out the candy, but was met again with agitating requests.

"I don't like chocolate…"

"Can I have another one, I'm hungry-"

"I got the same type of candy three times…"

"YOU KNOW WHAT!? You either take what you get, or get nothing at all you little brats!" Kadaj screamed at the surrounding children.

They all quieted before scattering, some crying, others just frightened.

Sighing heavily, the wrathful teen stormed off, not noticing the candy bag was now half empty. '_Stupid children…ungrateful little brats…_' he thought angrily.

As he went off toward another part of town, he once again felt a poke in his back.

"Are you selling candy Mister?"

He turned to see a little girl dressed as a princess. She was looking up at him hopefully.

"Yes…here you go," Kadaj said tiredly, giving the girl six pieces of candy.

"Oh thanks! I like your costume, it's pretty!" she cried happily, going back off.

Looking disdainfully back at the half-empty bag, the annoyed silver haired teen wished he had borrowed Niisan's Ipod.

A good hour and a half later, the bag was finally empty, and Kadaj was relieved, and also a bit hungry. He pouted looking down into the empty bag, until a thought occurred to him. How did the children get candy normally, besides harassment?

Eying a house not far from him, he saw the little kids approach the doorway, say that 'trick or treat' crap, and then the person at the door gave them candy. Hmm…

Curious, Kadaj went up and approached a house, the woman giving out treats smiling at him.

"Er….trick or treat," he said, feeling silly.

"Heh, here you go! Wonderful costume!" the middle-aged woman complimented, giving Kadaj a couple pieces of candy.

"Thanks," he said simply, and looked happily back down at his candy as he left the house. It _worked. _Smiling, the encouraged teen went off to the next house, and the next….and the one after that….

* * *

The bouncy, cheerful youth came through the door of the apartment at eleven thirty, chewing on a piece of chocolate. Cloud looked up from icing cookies, relieved.

"See, I told you he'd show up just fine," Loz mentioned nonchalantly as his eyes remained glued to the TV.

"Where have you been? You said you'd be home by ten. I was starting to worry about you," the blonde said, concerned.

"Sorry Niisan, I just-"

"I thought you were supposed to sell the candy?" the short haired man questioned, eyeing the full bag.

"I did- this is _my_ bag of candy."

"You mean you went trick or treating?" the amused cerulean-eyed man asked.

"Well, by the time I finished selling it I was hungry so I thought I'd go collect some. And I got a whole bag!" the teen pronounced proudly, holding up his bag as though it were treasure. "By the way, where's Yazoo?"

"In the shower. It was horrible what you did to his hair you know," Cloud said, smiling at the pretty teen.

Kadaj giggled and went to eat a cookie, until a scream ripped through the apartment.

The sound of a door slamming open was heard and the furious man showed himself. To everyone's horror, they noticed Yazoo's hair was still orange.

"It…didn't…come…out," the raging gunman managed to say calmly, tugging at his permanently stained hair, glaring daggers at his younger brother.

"I swear it said it was temporary!" Kadaj said weakly, as he had never seen Yazoo so angry before. When the short-tempered youth was angry, that was one thing…..but when the normally calm and collected remnant was angry…it was scary. Very, very scary.

Loz suddenly noticed the empty spray can on the floor and picked it up, reading the back.

" 'Directions: Apply carefully to hair, to where desired. Let dry for three minutes. Will wash out under four hours. Permanent hair coloring may result after four hours.'"

There was a silence so quiet in the apartment it was deafening. The expression on Yazoo's face was enough to even make Cloud feel a bit nervous and scared for Kadaj, who looked nearly terrified.

"Eh…heh…did you want any candy?" the startled teen offered weakly, trying to put on the most innocent face he could muster. It usually worked for everything else….perhaps it would work for this?

To the youngest remnant's relief, as well as everyone else's, Yazoo expression dropped and he sighed, defeated.

"I wonder who gave you the trait to make such adorable, irresistible faces," the relaxed man wondered out loud, grabbing a handful of candy and going off toward the couch.

Smiling, the teen took a couple of cookies and offered them to his pride shattered brother.

"Sorry…"

"It's alright….this just means I'll have to dye it a different color now," Yazoo replied. "Dying isn't expensive is it Niisan?"

"Not much….even if it was, I'm not having you go around like _that_," the blonde stated, grimacing as he looked at the bright hair.

"Actually it's not too bad. I like it," Kadaj chimed in jokingly, and they all looked at him for a moment before laughing.

* * *

There ya go! Yes there is some CloudxKadaj hints, I couldn't help it! Anyway hope u all enjoyed, got a laugh or two cuz I did! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! And review would ya, I'll have Kadaj carve a pumpkin for you!! XD 


	9. Christmas with the Strifes, oh joy!

Holy hell, I made it!! Barely but I made it, as it is Christmas!! It's like three in the morning...XD...but its Christmas and I finished the chapter!! So technically I'm still on time, although I'm really horribly late, as most of you will probably read this AFTER today. This is proof of how much time and energy I've had...not very much lol. What with Christmas shopping, homework, I've been sick...yeah. Therefore I have both bad and good news.

**GOOD NEWS:**

This chapter is THEE longest chapter, probably ever, its 32 pages in 12 font. 32 PAGES! Is that a neat Christmas gift or what?! I'm rather pleased with it, disregarding my rush to type the damn thing.

**BAD NEWS:**

Due to my lack of typing/writing and for it being so HORRIBLY last minute because 1) Short of time 2) Lazy 3) Just don't feel like sitting in front of a blank white screen...so that'd be lost of interest? I'm putting this story, as well my writing in general on hiatus. I just really need a break, I'm sorry guys.

Yeah...but anyway I want to THANK YOU ALL for leaving my pretty reviews, and laughing your asses off at this because that's what I put this up for!! So thanks muchos and I wish all of you THE BEST CHRIZMAS EVA!!! Only warning is an itty bitsy insingnifigant, probably-won't-even-notice-much-if-you're-not-a-yaoi-fan bit of shonen ai, its not even that, its just meant to be CUTENESS!! Kawaiiness!! That's all!! I think you can handle it, it'll make you go AWWW ( unless your a tough guy or something o.o ). Anyway that, and I slipped a random bit of Zack in here cuz I love him and felt like having him included. Ignore the fact that there'd really be no way for Cloud to still have a gift from him, what with the four years of experimentation, mako poisoning etc etc...just take it as it is! Think thats it. one last thing, TheBlackLady, or Lady Sandglass on here I think, this IS my Christmas present to you, I apologize severely for the lateness and I hope you enjoy this!! And that goes for the rest of you! Without further ado, GET READING!! XD

* * *

December arrived, bringing its sharp winds, bitter cold and freezing temperatures along with it. Despite the icy temperatures outside, it was warm and cozy in their apartment. Even if this heat cost another chunk of gil out of the blonde's pocket, he'd rather that than if they possibly froze to death in the small apartment. It was so bad, the roads became icy in the first week and Cloud was forced to stay home. He didn't mind really, as it had given him a chance to catch up on his sleep, and relax. Nonetheless, him being home would allow him to fix a problem that was in dire need of being tended to- Yazoo's horribly stained orange hair.

Somehow, he had managed to forgive Kadaj for the severe mistake, but that didn't make looking at the tainted hair everyday easy. Therefore, on the second day of Cloud's 'vacation', he woke up the former gunman early and dragged him out of the apartment with his head covered to the nearest hair salon. The other two brothers were still sleeping at the time, and had no idea what would await them when they awoke.

Cloud luckily found a hair salon not too far from home, and brought Yazoo in with him into the small, neat place. They waited a bit before one of younger hairdressers greeted them cheerfully, her own hair done quite nicely.

"Hello!" she attempted to say politely, but her eyes wondered over Cloud's odd spiky locks, and a curious expression appeared on her face. "How'd you get your hair like that? I've never seen anyone with that type of hairstyle…"

"…it just grows that way."

"Naturally?!"

"…yes," the slightly annoyed delivery man answered.

"Oh wow…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seem rude-"

"It's alright. Anyway, it's not me you'll need to be tending to…"

He looked over at Yazoo who seemed reluctant to take off his hat and hood. Couldn't blame him really.

"Oh, it's you then? So what can I do for you?" the preppy hairdresser asked, smiling at the somewhat embarrassed remnant.

"Well…actually…you can do a lot…"

With a sigh, Yazoo removed the items hiding his hair, and the hair dresser wasn't the only person who gasped in fright. Actually, everyone in the place stopped to gape at the pretty man's orange locks.

"Oh…_my_…what-"

"Long story. Can you just fix it?"

"Of…of course! My goodness, come on! Most certainly have to fix _that_…"

* * *

Kadaj woke up at his usual hour of around noon, and as he went to get himself something to eat, he paused as he noticed an unfamiliar person busying themselves at the counter. Whoever it was had light brown, layered hair, a few inches off the shoulders.

"Who are you?!" he cried out offensively, readying his fists.

The mistaken stranger turned around and the shocked youth gasped in astonishment.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you-"

"Y…_Yazoo_?!"

"No, Santa Claus. Who else would be it? I mean, you knew I had to dye my hair sooner or later-"

"But…but…you…you _cut_ it."

"Well, in the real world, it was getting a bit troublesome, so I decided to take off a few inches-"

"A few?! You took off like a foot!"

"What, you don't like it?"

"It's just…I got used to it being long."

"Heh, you'll get used to this too. I just won't be as easy to identify anymore."

"Hey Kadaj, who ya talking to?"

They both turned to greet Loz, who had a similar reaction as Kadaj to Yazoo's new hair.

"Yazoo?! But you don't look like Yazoo anymore!" the mind boggled remnant cried out in dismay.

The two younger siblings chuckled before continuing on with their tasks.

"Why'd you cut it?"

"So it doesn't get in my way."

"But it never got it your way before!"

"Fine, if you guys dislike my hair shorter, I'll just let it grow again."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea. By the way, who the heck is Santa Claus?" the curious teen asked, before taking a bite out of a cranberry muffin on the table.

"….you're eating my muffin again."

"What's with you and your cranberry muffins?!"

"I like my cranberry muffins. I would appreciate it if you got your own instead of eating mine all the time."

"There's like three more, YOU get your own. Anyway, who's Santa Claus?"

Sighing, Yazoo went to collect another cranberry muffin before deciding to answer his sibling's question.

"Santa Claus is a big, fat guy in a red suit with a white beard that brings toys to the children on Christmas."

"Christmas? I think read about that somewhere…"

"Oh, isn't that the holiday where you get presents and stuff?" Loz suddenly joined in.

Kadaj and Yazoo turned to stare at him, surprised he knew such information.

"What? I read it in that book."

"Shocking. Anyway, he brings the kids toys? What about everyone else?"

The light-brown haired remnant chuckled.

"He doesn't really exist, he's just an imaginary idol for children."

"Oh…wait, you said something about presents?"

"Yeah, Christmas is when you give gifts to those you care about."

"So we're going to buy stuff?"

"Yeah…"

"And get stuff?"

"Yes…"

"Cool! When's Christmas?"

"On the 25th."

"Oh my gosh, powder is falling out the sky!"

"What?!"

All three remnants turned to look out the living room window that Loz was frantically pointing at. Realizing what it was, Yazoo chuckled to himself as Kadaj went closer to the window to investigate.

"But powder doesn't come from the sky! Only rain does. And whatever this fluffy white stuff is…"

"Cotton?"

"No…"

"It's _snow_," the amused sibling was happy to inform.

"Snow?"

"It's basically frozen water."

"I thought ice was frozen water?" Kadaj questioned, momentarily confused.

"Well, partially frozen water."

"Oh. Can you eat it?"

"If you want. Just make sure it isn't dirty."

The door of their apartment opened suddenly, which revealed a pink cheeked, partially snow covered Cloud, who was holding something behind him.

"Niisan! You're home! How's the snow?" the young remnant asked cheerfully, going over to greet the cold man.

"Cold," the blonde simply stated, pausing to hug Kadaj.

"Oh, you're cold! Hey, you have that stuff in your hair," the curious teen noted, reaching up to brush the chilled, white fluffy stuff out of the golden locks. "It _is_ cold."

Chuckling, Cloud finally dragged in the tall, heavy item with him into the apartment.

"Niisan, why are you bringing a tree inside?" Loz asked, looking over the pine tree questionably.

"You got one already?" the knowledgeable remnant questioned as he looked over the tree as well.

"I figured I might as well, before all the good ones are taken."

"But why do we need a tree?" Kadaj asked, giving his Niisan an odd look.

"To have a Christmas tree. You know about Christmas right?" Cloud asked as he dragged the pine tree to a corner to stay momentarily.

"Yeah! Yazoo said its about presents and some guy named Santa Claus."

"Wait, so what's special about Christmas trees?"

"It's a normal tree, Loz, but after you decorate it, it becomes a Christmas tree," the amused swordsman said with a smile.

"Ooohhh."

"But what do you decorate it with? It's a tree," Kadaj stated, still a bit confused about this Christmas thing.

"You hang ornaments on it, sashes, tinsel, and then you put a star on top. The presents go under it."

"Oh! Can I put the star on top?" the eager beauty asked, as the event of decorating the tree now seemed appealing to him.

"You're too short to reach the top," Yazoo commented with a smirk, and the oldest sibling snickered.

"Shut up!" the pride shattered teen yelled at his brothers.

Cloud chuckled as he took off his coat to place it on a rack by the door.

"Don't worry Kadaj. I'm sure you'll grow some after this year."

"Really?"

"Well, you're not an adult yet, so you still have time to grow."

"Good! Can I still put the star on top anyway?"

"Of course you can. You'll just need assistance is all."

"We can all help with that. Or to make it simpler, just get a ladder or something-"

Both Loz and Cloud laughed at this comment, and the angered youth threw a pillow at his teasing sibling.

"SHUT UP! If you mention anything else about my height-"

"Besides the fact that it doesn't seem to be working out for you so far? I mean, you had to use a chair to get to the top cabinet for Planet's sake-"

The short haired remnant laughed at remembering this event. Thoroughly irritated now, Kadaj looked to find a plastic cup on the table and hurled it at his older sibling. He was so angry actually, the materia in his left arm activated as he threw the cup, and it looked like a ball of fire flew and hit the sarcastic man in the head instead of a plastic cup.

"_Ow! _What did you just do?! I was kidding!" Yazoo cried out in surprise and in pain as he rubbed the now singed area of his forehead.

The plastic cup had fallen on the ground, deformed from being momentarily heated. Kadaj stared at his arm, as did everyone else, surprised to see the materia still there and active.

"I didn't know I still had it…"

"So we still have ours? Cool!"

"Well obviously. Materia don't disappear on their own."

"Don't make me throw another blast at you!"

"Kadaj, I'd rather not see my apartment go up in flames," Cloud stated a bit nervously, as he had forgotten all about the materia.

"Oh right. Sorry Niisan."

"Geez, that really hurt.."

"That's what you get for being annoying! Anyway, are you still cold Niisan? Your face is still pink," the concerned remnant asked.

"Oh- well, I suppose-"

"We have a fire place!" Loz mentioned suddenly, indicating the abandoned, ashy square.

"I don't think it works though-"

Kadaj paused for a moment before activating his materia again. He shot a blast directly into the fireplace, where the burnt wood lit up at once, emitting a bright, orangey glow within the living room.

"It works now," the pleased teen said, satisfied as he smiled at Cloud. The blonde returned the expression.

"Thanks, Kadaj."

* * *

Cloud awoke early the next morning, as he had decided to set up the tree. He also of course needed to buy decorations to put on the tree, and planned to do so that day as well. It didn't take long, but the blonde was suddenly reminded he hadn't had a decent Christmas in two years. Nostalgia came over him as he propped up the tree, and once he was finished, he suddenly remember he had a box somewhere with past Christmas ornaments. Going into the closet, he found the box at the back of it.

Taking it out, he brushed the dust off of it, and opened it. As soon as he did, he wasn't sure if it was such a good idea. Inside were various ornaments he had received from his old friends, or ones he had bought himself. Memories of decorating the tree with Tifa and the kids came back to him, as well the others coming over with cakes, cookies and gifts. As he recollected all this information, it saddened him a bit to know he didn't keep contact with these people anymore. Not that he wouldn't want to but…

He thoughts were interrupted as he came across one ornament that made his heart stop momentarily. It was a bit dull from being concealed for so long, and Cloud was surprised he still had it. It was one of those picture-frame type ornaments with 'Merry Christmas' written in gold curly letters below it. Blue eyes stared at the grinning, black haired SOLDIER who was in the picture frame. He remembered the note he had received with it as though he had just gotten it yesterday…

_Cloud,_

_I wasn't sure what to get you, so I figured I'd use one of these things. Hope I came out okay! Oh, and I got you chocolate. Everyone likes chocolate right? Anyway, just want to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that other stuff. You're a great buddy, I'm glad I met you and wish I could be there. Maybe I can make it for New Years! Cross your fingers! _

_Love, _

_Zack _

The reminiscing swordsman smiled at this thought and perfectly remembered how that New Years had turned out. Chuckling to himself, he took the ornament, cleaned it up some to return its natural shine, and hung it on the tree. He smiled at it fondly for a moment before deciding he didn't want to go off shopping by himself. He might be scorned momentarily, but it was worth a try.

Going into Kadaj's room, he found him fast asleep, covers over his head. A few strands of silver hair were strewn across his pillow. Chuckling lightly at the sight, Cloud went and pulled the covers down enough to reveal the snoozing teen's head. He then poked him in the shoulder.

"Kadaj," he whispered, poking him again.

The calm youth pulled the covers back over his head, making a mumbling sound.

"Kadaj. Wake up."

The blonde sat on the bed beside the sleeping beauty, and pulled the sheets back down again. He shook him lightly and Kadaj finally responded somewhat.

"What…its…early…" the platinum haired teen mumbled, trying to pull the cover over his head again, but Cloud kept a firm grip on it.

"Come on, I want you to come Christmas shopping with me."

As the persistent swordsman expected, Kadaj finally opened his eyes and sat himself up.

"Christmas shopping?"

"Yes. But you know, you can stay and sleep if you want to…"

Cloud got up and started to walk out of the door as part of his persuasive argument.

"No, I want to go! I'll go with you Niisan. Is it just us?"

"Yeah."

"Oh good! Can I buy presents?"

"We'll see, just hurry and get dressed."

"But I need to eat!"

"What do you feel like eating?"

Kadaj paused as he thought for a moment.

"Pancakes! With eggs! And toast!"

"Okay then," the now satisfied blonde agreed with a smile.

With that said, the eager silver haired teen sprung out of bed. A good half an hour later, Kadaj was dressed and fed. Taking an extra coat from the rack by the door, Cloud tossed it at the young remnant, who held it up in front of him with a questioning look on his face.

"What's this for?"

"It's quite cold outside. You need something to keep you warm. There's gloves in the pockets I think," Cloud explained.

"Okay."

The young remnant slipped on his gloves and put on his coat easily.

"Hmm, its furry inside."

"It's supposed to be. Oh, before we go-"

Cloud wrapped a gray scarf around Kadaj's neck, and before the questioning youth could anything, a black hat was pulled over his hair as well.

"Niisan, do I really need all this?"

"Yes you do. It'll keep you from getting sick from the cold."

"But I won't get sick Niisan! I'm not human, so I have better immune system."

Cloud chuckled as they made their way out of the apartment.

"I don't care _what _you are- you aren't going out in the cold without being properly equipped."

"Alright, Niisan."

After going down a few flights of stairs, they reached the door to go outside. As the blonde opened it and Kadaj felt the extreme chill, he retreated back into the building.

"Niisan, its _freezing_! I don't want to go out there!" the startled teen cried out.

"And I thought you said you didn't need to wear all that?" Cloud said teasingly, giving Kadaj a 'I told you so' look.

The beautiful remnant grinned sheepishly before moving closer to the blonde, keeping an arm around his waist.

"Okay, you made your point! Just stay close so I don't freeze up."

"Of course. Don't worry, you'll live, I promise," Cloud reassured, putting his left arm around Kadaj's shoulders as they made their way down the snowy, windy road.

* * *

After some time of walking, the blonde stopped in front of a small store, which was brilliantly decorated with Christmas décor. It caught Kadaj's attention and he paused to gaze at it for a moment.

"Wow, it's pretty in there. Can we go in ?" the cat eyed teen asked eagerly, looking over at the blonde.

Cloud nodded, and the cheerful youth went right in, looking around the place. He seemed fascinated by it.

"These are all Christmas decorations?"

"Yes. We need to buy some."

"Oh really? We can buy all this?"

"Well not all of it, but some."

"Okay! What do we need?"

"Well, first we need ornaments."

Seeing a box of the glittery orbs on a shelf, Cloud picked it up to show Kadaj what they were.

"Oh, those are nice!"

"I'll get the other stuff. Just go and find about four boxes of these."

"Okay then!"

With that, Kadaj went off to find more of the shiny, colorful ball things, as that was what he saw them as. This store had shelves and shelves of ornaments. The beautiful teen paused for a moment in thought, wondering how he wanted their tree to look. He suddenly looked over and noticed a section with already decorated trees, which were loaded with ornaments. Nice ornaments. Bright ones, red ones, blue ones, silver ones, gold ones, even ones that were built with inner blinking lights. Interested, Kadaj went over to a particular tree, picking up and examining all the ornaments.

"They're all pretty…I want our tree to look just like this! I'll just take all the ornaments off…"

Seeing an abandoned shopping basket, he grabbed it, and started to strip the pine tree of all its decorations.

Some time later, the pleased youth carried his overfilled basket of ornaments over to where Cloud was, who had already collected a sash, tinsel, and a gold star.

"I got the ornaments Niisan!"

"Oh, g-"

The blonde turned around and looked at the full basket of random decorated balls, a slight look of disproval on his face.

"Eh…we don't need that many-"

"Oh, okay, I'll just leave some then-"

"And they're all different colors…"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well Kadaj, for a Christmas tree, you usually pick a theme consisting of two colors. Like blue and silver, red and gold, red and green, silver and gold…"

"Oh…"

"So pick two color that you want, and get ornaments that color. Where did you get all these anyway?"

"Off of a tree."

"A tree?"

"The ones they have set up for display over there."

"You took these from the display trees?! Kadaj, if its on display, its not meant to be bought. The ones in boxes are the ones you choose to buy," Cloud explained gently.

"Oh…so…I have to put all these back?" the disheartened teen said sadly. "Sorry, I'm not much help Niisan…"

The older swordsman smiled reassuringly and put a hand on the saddened teen's shoulder.

"Don't say that, Kadaj. Come on, I'll help you," the cerulean eyed man said, putting an arm around the remnants' shoulders, leading him back toward the ornament area.

Meanwhile…

The manager of the small shop walked around the place, smiling at bright, appealing decorations- until he noticed something that disrupted his momentary peace.

"Hey- where'd the decorations go?!"

"What decorations?" a sales clerk asked.

"The decorations on that tree!" the manager cried out, pointing at the bare display tree.

The cashier raised her eyebrows as she noticed the tree as well.

"I don't know…"

"Did you decorate it?!"

"Yes sir, I-"

"Then where'd they go?!"

"I don't know-"

"What if someone stole them?!" the older man cried out hysterically. "You know how ridiculous we'd look with one bare tree?! We won't make any money!"

"Sir, it's not that-"

"What do you mean its not that important?! Go get more decorations!"

"What if someone just took them by accident and-"

"I SAID GET MORE DECORATIONS!"

Startled, the poor clerk went off to attend to her perfectionist, somewhat compulsive manager's needs.

Leaving the basket full of display ornaments to the side, Cloud helped Kadaj pick a few boxes of silver and red ornaments, as that was what the platinum haired teen chose as the theme. Once that was done, the blonde went off to get a pack of lights.

"Ohhh, we're going to put lights on it?!" the pretty youth asked excitedly.

The delivery man chuckled as he picked a pack of white lights and went off toward the cashier.

"Yes, we are. We can decorate it today."

"Yay!"

Placing their items on the counter, the smiley cashier quickly scanned their items, and they left to go outside just before-

"HEY, here's the stupid ornaments! I bet either that guy or girl that just left did it!" the manager cried angrily, holding up the basket of display ornaments.

"Actually, they were both guys-"

"DID I ASK YOU?!"

* * *

"Hey Niisan, what do you want for Christmas?" Kadaj asked as they walked back to the apartment.

"What do I want?"

"Well yeah, I have to buy you something don't I? But I don't know what you want."

"Well I can't tell you, then it wouldn't a surprise. Whatever you get me I'll be happy with," Cloud said simply.

"Really?"

"Sure."

"And what should I get my brothers? They don't even really use anything!"

"If you don't know what to get them, what makes you think I do? You know them more than anyone else."

The thoughtful youth thought over this for a moment.

"That's true. But still…"

"You have plenty of time yet to figure out what to buy us."

"I suppose. But I want to get you something really nice Niisan."

The spiky haired swordsman smiled.

"That's sweet of you."

"Well you deserve it for supporting us and all."

Kadaj paused suddenly, as they approached a large pile of snow that had been shoved aside. Taking a handful, the tentative ate some as Cloud watched him curiously.

"Hmm, tastes like water. Not bad though."

The pleased teen took a scoopful of the white fluffy stuff and ate it as they walked along, the blonde only smiling at the happy beauty's actions.

They arrived home to find the other two brothers awake, relaxing in front of the television. The both looked up at the pink cheeked males that had just entered the apartment.

"Where did you two go? You didn't leave a note or anything!" the oldest remnant cried out, concern on his face.

"We went to buy ornaments to put on the tree!" the turquoise eyed explained cheerfully, tossing the bags of decorations at the his older brother.

Curious, both siblings looked into the bags as the other two took off their winter gear.

"Oh, these are nice," Yazoo complimented as he looked over the ornaments.

"Oh cool, we're putting up lights! But where?"

"On the tree, genius."

"Niisan, can we put these up today? Oh, who's this?"

Kadaj had went over by the tree, and saw the old picture of Zack that was at the side of the tree, facing the wall. He picked it up and was looking at it curiously. "He kinda looks like you Niisan, but his hair is different."

"Who are you talking about?" the light browned haired gunman asked, going over toward his younger brother.

"I wanna see too!"

As the three remnants all looked over the picture, the blonde couldn't help but smile a bit.

"He _does_ look like you Niisan."

"He looks so happy! Who is he?"

"Zack," Cloud said simply as he started to take out the decorations.

"Zack…is he a friend of yours?" the young teen asked curiously.

"Was."

"What happened?"

"He died," the golden haired man managed to say, trying to not to dwell much over it.

He heard all the three of them gasp.

"Oh I'm sorry Niisan, I didn't mean to make you upset!" the remorseful youth cried out, running over to hug Cloud.

"It's okay Kadaj, I'm not upset," Cloud said gently, smiling down at the comforting youth. "I've gotten over it."

"I'm really sorry Niisan," Yazoo said softly, looking down at the picture for a moment before placing it back on the tree.

"Me too, he looked like a good friend," Loz added sadly.

"Thank you guys. He was…he was a great friend," Cloud said, reminiscing for a moment before letting Kadaj go. "But don't worry about it. Besides, we have work to do."

"We _are_ going to decorate the tree?" the excited youth questioned.

"Might as well."

"Can I put on the ornaments?" the short haired asked excitedly.

"I want to put on that shiny stuff!" Kadaj added.

"It's called tinsel," Yazoo corrected.

"Whatever!"

"I guess that leaves me with the lights then."

"But what will Niisan do?" Kadaj wondered looking over at the blonde.

"I'll make the cookies."

"You bought cookies?!"

"Of course, you can't have Christmas without cookies."

"Okay then! Come on, let's get started!"

With that said, Cloud went off to the kitchen while the three remnants grabbed each of the items they wished to put on the tree. Everything was fine for a moment, until Yazoo noticed Loz was crowding most of the ornaments in one area.

"Spread them out some more, they need to be around the whole tree," he instructed.

"Oh right…"

He then glanced over at Kadaj and chuckled.

"What?"

"Goodness Kadaj, there's more tinsel on you than on the tree," he pointed out.

Loz looked over and giggled. Tinsel covered most of the teen's shirt, and some had even fallen on the floor.

"Well it keeps falling all over!"

"That's because you opened the package too wide!"

The middle brother pulled most of the tinsel off his brother's shirt and helped him spread it around the tree. About 20 minutes later, the ornaments and tinsel were spread nicely around the tree and the smell of cookies baking was prominent throughout the apartment.

"Oh, it looks so nice!" the teen said happily. "And shiny."

"Now all it needs is lights!"

"Can I help?"

"Sure, you can hold the lights while I string them around."

Taking out the white lights, Yazoo handed them to Kadaj who strung them loosely around his arm before handing one end to his older brother. He followed the tall remnant around the tree until all the lights were spread evenly around it. Seeing as the end of it was a plug, Kadaj saw a nearby outlet and plugged the white cord in it. Loz, who was surveying from afar gasped as the lights went on, adding to the beauty of the tree.

"Oh, you guys look!"

They both stepped back and admired the beautiful Christmas tree happily.

"Looks like its missing something…oh the star!" Kadaj cried out and went searching through the plastic bags until he found it. He held up the gold, sparkly star with a smile.

"You sure you want to put it up, it'd a lot easier if I just did it-"

"NO I wanna put it up!"

"Fine. Come on then-"

"What are you- AH!"

To the teen's surprise, Yazoo grabbed him around the waist and lifted him up next to the tree.

"Is that high enough?"

"I don't think so, a few more inches and I should be able to-"

Both he and his non-silver haired sibling cried out in surprise as Loz grabbed Yazoo and lifted _him_ up.

"Loz, what are you doing?! I'm going to fall!" the surprised youth cried out as he swayed slightly.

"Are you high enough now?"

"Let's hope so," the middle sibling said nervously.

Still holding the star, Kadaj noticed he was level with the top of the tree.

"Yeah! But you're too far, take a step closer!"

"Oh no…"

"Okey dokey!"

Loz went to do so, not noticing the empty plastic box that was in front of him. As he went to take a step, he stepped on it, and slipped.

"I said FORWARD not- AHHHHHH!"

Cloud was disrupted from a phone call with a client as he heard screaming and a particularly loud _thud_.

"Could you excuse me a moment?" he asked politely, before returning to the living room.

He stared at the scene in front of him with a raised eyebrow.

"What did you do?!" Kadaj cried angrily at his older brother, as he slowly got up from the floor, rubbing his head which had collided with the dining room table.

"Ow….my rib," Yazoo moaned, rubbing his right rib.

"I stepped on a plastic case and slipped!"

"Why didn't you watch where you were going?!"

"I couldn't see anything!"

"Well no one asked you to lift me!" the hurt remnant snapped defensively at his older sibling, holding his right side.

"And no one asked YOU to lift me! All I needed was a chair or something, and the star could have been up already!" the sore headed teen yelled angrily at Yazoo.

They all started arguing among themselves as Cloud stood and watched, bewildered. He returned to the phone.

"Sorry, but could you call back at a later time? There are…things I need to attend to."

"Call back at a later time?! I'm a customer, you're supposed to tend to my needs! Where's your manager?! I demand to talk to him at once!"

"Um…I own this business by myself. And I have a family to attend to-"

"Oh! I'm- I'm sorry, I didn't know- what a wonderful father you are, they're aren't many like you!"

A blush made its way to the blonde's face.

"Oh no, I'm not a -"

"Tell you what, if you can pick up my package tomorrow by at least nine, I'll pay you 1000 gil."

Cloud nearly dropped the phone.

"One- one _thousand_ gil?"

"Well, considering the road conditions, and the distance, and of course you'll need money for Christmas shopping-"

"Oh, Miss, that's really kind of you, but I don't want the charity-"

"Niisan! Can you help me put up the star?"

"Oh, don't worry about it! It'll be no big deal. So we have a deal then?"

The words 'one thousand gil' kept floating around Cloud's mind and he just couldn't refuse.

"Okay then-"

"Niisan!"

"Wonderful! So I'll see you here tomorrow morning then?"

"Yes, where do you live please?" the blonde asked, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen.

"NIISAN!"

"You got it?"

"Yes, thank you so much, I'll see you tomorrow then!"

An angry Kadaj appeared at the happy swordsman's door way, as ignoring the former leader was something you just didn't do.

"Who are you talking to Niisan?! You've been ignoring me!"

"Kadaj, I'm talking to a cl-"

"What, are they more important than me or something?! Gimme that!" the angered teen snapped, grabbing the phone.

"No, wa-"

"Who is this?!"

"Who- who is this?" the woman over the phone asked, surprised by the angry voice that had replaced the kind one.

"Are you trying to send Niisan out on the road to deliver a package? Don't you see there's ice outside?! If you can't wait till it's melted, then go and deliver the package yourself you stupid lazy idiot!" Kadaj yelled over the phone and before shutting it and throwing it on the desk, satisfied. "Hmpf. Anyway Niisan, can you- Niisan?"

Cloud's face had fallen into a straight, blank stance. '_One thousand gil…gone…'_

"What is it?"

"Nothing," the blonde replied, not wanting to make the teen feel bad. He did have a bit of a point anyway. "What did you want?"

"Oh, to help me put up the star!"

"Speaking of that, are you guys okay?"

"Well my head still kinda hurts, and so does Yazoo's rib. But we're okay."

Cloud followed the teen into the living room, where Yazoo was on the couch with a pillow against his side, and where Loz had an upset look on his face.

"I'm really sorry-"

"It's fine really, Loz."

"So how am I going to put on the star? Without getting hurt?" the teen asked.

Chuckling, Cloud thought for a moment and before kneeling on the floor.

"Put your legs around my neck."

Kadaj did so, and cried out again in surprise as he was lifted up _again_- but this time realized he was in the perfect position to put on the star. Relieved, he carefully placed the star on the top spike of the tree.

"It's crooked," Yazoo announced from the couch.

Kadaj adjusted it.

"More to the left!" Loz added.

The teen adjusted the star again.

"No your other left!"

"You mean right!"

"You guys are confusing me!" the irritated teen yelled.

"Sorry. Turn it a bit though, to the right," Loz explained.

"How about now?"

"Think that's pretty good."

"Yeah, its fine!"

"Finally. Wait, what's that smell?"

They were all quiet a moment as the scent of something burning reached each of their noses.

"Something's burning!"

"But what was cooking?"

"THE COOKIES!" Cloud suddenly shouted as he remembered, and completely forgetting Kadaj was on his shoulders, he turned to rush to the kitchen, and the teen fell off him and landed on the floor with another _thud_. This time however, it was accompanied by the laughter of his siblings.

"_Niisan_!"

"Oh I'm sorry!" the blonde apologized, going to help the fallen teen on his feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Now my head hurts more though," the young remnant complained, rubbing his head.

"Maybe some ice would help. I'll get you some after I save the cookies."

Luckily, the blonde got the cookies out the oven before they reached complete oblivion and let them cool off on a tray. Placing some cubes of ice in a towel, he gave it to Kadaj who held it against the side of his head that was injured.

"What is this supposed to do anyway?"

"Numb the pain and reduce the swelling," Yazoo explained, still smiling from his previous laughter.

"It wasn't funny!"

"Was too."

"You guys! Hey, look, a deer!" Loz cried out pointing at the TV.

The two others glanced at the TV, and Kadaj raised an eyebrow at the supposed deer, which had bells strung onto it and was flying.

"Deer can _fly_?"

"That isn't a deer, it's a reindeer."

"The difference?"

"It can fly. It isn't real though either."

As they continued watching the program, they noticed an old, jolly man in a red suit with a white beard.

"_That's_ Santa Claus?"

"Yeah."

Kadaj watched in interest as Santa Claus was petting one of the reindeer, this one in particular having a red nose. He noticed he was singing.

" _'Rudolph, with your nose so bright! Why don't you guide my sleigh tonight?'"_

Then other short people dressed in colorful outfits surrounded them.

" '_Then all the reindeer loved him! As they shouted out with glee! Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer! You'll go down in history!'"_

Everyone danced around and then cheered as the song finished, before the credits started rolling, signaling the end of the movie.

"Weird…"

"Kadaj…about before…"

"What?"

"When you asked me what was wrong…"

"Oh yeah!"

"The person you yelled at over the phone was going to offer me 1000 gil for delivering her package tomorrow."

There was silence for a moment as the remnants absorbed this fact and Kadaj's eyes widened.

"YOU LOST US ONE THOUSAND GIL?!" Yazoo and Loz screamed at their younger brother who jumped in surprised.

"I DIDN'T KNOW!" Kadaj yelled back, before looking at Cloud sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Niisan-"

"It's okay, Kadaj."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't know how I'd get through that ice anyway."

Silence came over the apartment again, before Yazoo shook his head in disbelief.

"One thousand gil…all because you couldn't control your temper! Geez.."

"Alright already, I get it!"

* * *

The ice had melted by the next week, and Cloud was flooded with delivery requests, as expected due to the holidays. He had so many deliveries in fact, he didn't come home until ten. He wondered in through the door so tired on Friday he pretty much collapsed on the couch and lay there, unmoving.

"Niisan, are you home? Niisan?" the worried teen asked as he looked over the couch, glancing at the blonde's immobile figure.

"Yes Kadaj?" Cloud said, his voice muffled as his face was in the couch.

"Are you okay?"

Kadaj went around the couch to sit next to the resting delivery man's head.

"Yeah…just…tired…"

"You sound exhausted."

Realizing the concerned youth was near him, Cloud raised his head and placed it on Kadaj's lap.

"You're taking tomorrow off right?"

"Can't…"

"Why?"

"Too many…requests…"

"But Niisan, if you keep this up, we won't be able to go Christmas shopping!"

"Is he home finally? It's almost eleven."

Yazoo came over and looked down at the extremely tired man.

"You should really take a day off Niisan…"

"Yazoo, go unplug the phone in his office. He needs a day off. Come on Niisan, we made dinner for you," Kadaj said gently, shaking Cloud slightly so he would get up.

However, the blonde did not react to it, and the puzzled teen suddenly noticed his eyes were closed and his breathing was steady.

"He fell asleep…" he said quietly, in disbelief.

"What's the matter?" the intelligent remnant asked as he returned from unplugging the phone.

"He fell asleep!"

"What?!"

"I'm serious, look at him! How am I supposed to get him off of me? I don't want to wake him up…"

"Just move out slowly, that's all…"

"But I don't want to leave him here, he needs to sleep in my bed, he'll be more comfortable."

"And who's going to lift him? You?"

"No…but Loz can, can't he?"

They paused as they considered this thought.

"Good point."

"Hey is-"

"Shhh!" the two younger siblings hushed at the normally loud brother. "Niisan's sleeping."

"Oh…where?"

"On me," Kadaj stated, looking down at the gold spiky head on his lap.

The oldest remnant looked at the snoozing man and chuckled.

"Can you carry him off to Kadaj's room, since he wants him to _comfortable_," Yazoo teased, smirking at his little brother, who glared at him.

"_Shut up_!"

"Oh, that's easy!"

With that said, Loz carefully and easily picked up Cloud as though he were a child and carried him off toward the swordsman's former room.

The blonde woke up much later than he usually would the next morning. He was so disorientated when he woke up, he didn't realize where he was for a moment. He also noticed with surprise he still had his normal clothing on. Stretching, he sat up and glanced over at the silver head next to him, poking out from under the covers. Smiling at the sight, he turned to look at the time. 11:30. Not bad.

He poked the lump that was supposed to be Kadaj, and got out of bed.

"Niisan, why do you always poke me?"

Cloud chuckled, and watched the teen emerge from under the sheets, stretching and yawning.

"It wakes you up doesn't it? Thank you, by the way."

"Huh? For what?"

"Bringing me here."

"Oh, I didn't do it, Loz did. But I suggested it!"

Cloud smiled at the youth before going his dresser to pick out different clothing to wear.

"Niisan, can we go Christmas shopping today? Or just looking around? I wanna see what I want."

"I suppose so. It would help."

"Thanks Niisan!"

About half an hour later, the Strife family prepared to go out in the cold, pulling on the necessary equipment.

"Everyone ready?" Cloud asked after a few moments.

"Yeah!" the young remnant confirmed happily.

"You forgot your hat," the light brown haired remnant pointed out, and shoved a black hat on Kadaj's head, low enough to cover his eyes.

"Hey!" the aggravated teen yelled out, and swung his hand back to hit Yazoo. But as he couldn't see, he smacked Cloud in the face instead.

"_Ow!_"

"Niisan, was that you?!"

Kadaj lifted the hat over his eyes and gasped lightly as he realized it _was _Cloud that he had hit.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you!" he cried out apologetically.

"It's alright," the blonde said, rubbing his cheek.

Kadaj glared daggers at his brothers who were chuckling at the situation. Storming over, he punched Yazoo in the shoulder.

"Ow! So violent…"

"Hmpf. Anyway Niisan, can we go now?" the beautiful teen asked innocently, as though what he just did a moment ago never happened.

"Sure, come on."

As they went outside, Kadaj clung to the blonde again for warmth as his brothers trailed along after them.

"It's freezing…the mall isn't too far is it?" the thin remnant asked, wrapping his arms tight around himself.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, it's not that bad," Loz said nonchalantly.

"It's about 20 minutes away," Cloud informed.

"20 minutes?!"

"Oh, you'll live. Hey look, more snow!" Kadaj cried out as the they approached the large pile of snow again. He took a scoopful and started eating it once again.

"You can eat it?" the fascinated sibling asked, who obviously wasn't paying attention when Yazoo said snow was partially frozen water.

The middle brother rolled his eyes and Cloud only chuckled as Loz went to help himself to some of the white substance. Kadaj broke away from the blonde and went off ahead, eating his snow as he did so.

"Hey…if water and ice are clear, how come snow is white?" he randomly asked, looking down at the substance.

"That's a good question."

"Hey Kadaj, there's something shiny on the ground in front of you," the oldest remnant informed calmly.

"Huh? Something shi-"

Cloud realized a split second too late what Loz meant by 'something shiny', as with a cry of surprise, the teen was caught off guard as he slipped on ice, and fell backwards on the blonde, who also started falling and grabbed Yazoo as a reaction, who was brought along down with them. Loz blinked and stared at them on the floor, groaning in pain, except Kadaj who had been comforted by Cloud body's.

"What, what _is_ that?" the puzzled youth asked, sitting up on the swordsman.

"Kadaj, could you get off please?"

"Wait, don't step back on the-"

Yazoo sighed hopelessly as Kadaj stepped on the ice to get off of Cloud and fell again, painfully on his hip.

"OW!"

"Yeah, stepping on the ice is only going to make you slip AGAIN, genius."

"Shut up and help me!"

"I have to help Niisan first! Or myself really…Loz, go get Kadaj."

Wincing, Yazoo picked himself up and offered his hands to help Cloud up. Meanwhile, Loz walked on the snow portion of the sidewalk and simply lifted Kadaj next to him.

"Niisan, you are okay?"

"Yeah," Cloud assured, for once thankful for his choboco-like hair as he had cushioned his head from the cement. "Are you okay?"

"I think so…my hip hurts though."

"So does mine. But I'm sure you'll live."

"Very funny Yazoo. Now to just stay off of the ice."

They all silently agreed, as they walked on the sides of the sidewalk until the middle section was clear again.

They arrived at the mall some time later and they all stopped to stare at the beautifully decorated place. There was a large, tall Christmas tree right in the middle, and there were also many people about as well. They also became aware of the heat inside the place.

"It's warm in here," the platinum haired teen mentioned, removing his coat, along with the other winter items. "Come on, there's a lot of places to go to!"

He started off by himself, and the others behind him, but not too close.

"What should we get him?" Cloud asked, honestly having not much of an idea.

"No clue. He's picky."

"That's true," Loz agreed.

"Maybe if we follow him we'll see what he wants?" the blonde wondered.

They all suddenly moved closer behind the gazing youth.

"This place looks nice," he mentioned before walking into it, his family following suit.

It was a clothing store, and they all separated a bit so Kadaj wouldn't suspect they were following him. The interested teen started looking through a few shirts, before dismissing them and going elsewhere. His siblings watched him from the corners of their eyes.

"The clothes are too fancy in here," he said after awhile and left the store.

"Okay…so fancy clothes out of the question," Cloud noted out loud.

They followed the teen once again to the other end of the mall where he stopped in front of a clothing store that was decorated mostly in black, and sold punky, dark clothing, among various things.

"I'm not going in there," Loz stated as they watched Kadaj walk into it.

"It's just a clothing-"

"I'm NOT going."

Cloud chuckled and looked at the interested teen who was looking over a pair of black jeans.

"So he likes this type of dress huh?"

"Thanks to you."

"Me?"

"He got it from listening to the rock bands you had on your iPod."

"Oh…right."

"I hope he doesn't start dressing like those crazy people on TV that he watches sometimes," Loz mentioned, the image of the oddly dressed rock stars appearing in his mind.

"Actually, it looks like that's where he's headed," the middle sibling informed.

"What?!"

"Anyway, clothes won't be too hard to pick from a place like this. I can do that," Yazoo said simply.

"Okay then."

"Niisan, can you come here for a minute?"

Cloud went over to the teen, who he saw with surprise was holding quite a bit of items in his arms.

"Since we haven't gone clothes shopping much, is it okay if I buy this?" Kadaj asked, holding up his small pile of clothes.

"How much does that all cost?"

"I don't know, but this one shirt cost 30 gil."

An imaginary sweatdrop appeared next to the blonde's head.

"_30_ gil for a shirt?!"

"It has My Chemical Romance on it!"

Before the blonde could reply, he suddenly noticed the only cashier in the place. It appeared to be some guy around his age, his hair dyed black with half of his hair cut right above his shoulders, and the other half cut shorter and spiked. The longer portion of his hair covered his right eye, but Cloud could clearly see the left eye was covered in black eyeliner and eyeshadow. His exposed ear was covered in earrings, besides the piercing on his lip and on his left eyebrow. It wasn't just his appearance that slightly startled the blonde, but the devious punk kept looking at him, smiling slightly as though pleased with what he was looking at.

"Can I help you?" he asked suddenly, that almost flirty smile still on his face.

"Eh…no thank you," Cloud said, feeling a bit nervous. "Kadaj, I'll get your stuff at another time."

"Will you get it for me for Christmas?"

"Maybe."

The teen grinned as he followed his caretaker out of the store, and they continued on their way around the mall.

"Kadaj…"

"Yes?"

"I don't mind how you dress, but please don't ever try to look like that cashier."

"Oh no, that's a bit scary."

As they continued their walk around, the teen paused again in front of a chocolate store.

"Oh, look at all the chocolate! They have all kinds…" the awed youth said, looking around the small treat shop through the window.

"You can get him that. The store looks safe enough, yeah?"

Both Cloud and Yazoo snickered quietly to themselves as Loz glared slightly at his teasing brother.

"Alright already!"

"What?" the teen asked curiously, turning around.

"Nothing!"

They continued their tour, and suddenly became aware of music in the background.

_" 'When the weather outside is frightful._

_And the fire is so delightful_

_When there's no place to go_

_Let it snow, let it snow let it snow.'"_

"Oh, look Niisan! Let's go in there!"

The excited youth pointed and they all stopped in front of one the bigger stores in the mall, that Cloud had never noticed before.

"Wal-Mart," Yazoo read from the bright red letters above the store entrance.

"Wallmart? It sells walls?"

They were all quiet a moment before they burst into laughter.

"No silly! Come on Niisan!"

The excited teen dragged the blonde into the place and went straight over to an area where food was sold. Not too far away was a clothes area and near the back of the store was an entertainment section.

"They sell clothes _and_ food?"

"And televisions!"

"Why I haven't I heard of this place before?" Cloud asked himself as he looked around with interest. This place would certainly make running errands much easier.

"Look, gingerbread cookies! I don't know what gingerbread is, but they look nice! Can I have it?" the childish teen asked, waving the box in Cloud's face.

"How much is it?"

"Sign says everything here is only five gil," Yazoo answered, looking at the sign placed above the shelves.

"_Five_ gil?! That's it?!"

"Oh, can I get two then? Or three? Or-"

"Two is good Kadaj," the blonde interrupted.

"Okay then!"

The sliver haired youth placed two boxes of gingerbread cookies in the blonde's hands and went off toward the entertainment section, his siblings behind him. As Cloud followed them, he looked at all at price signs- Two for ten gil, five for twenty gil, five gil for small jewelery sets- everything was pretty cheap here. From what the gazing swordsman could tell, they sold nearly everything- clothes, food, skin care items, tools, toys. It was _amazing_.

"They have CDs here! Of all my favorite bands too!" Kadaj cried out happily, grabbing every CD he saw that caught his interest.

"Uh Kadaj…if you buy yourself all those CDs then what are we supposed to get you?" Yazoo asked, as by this time the teen was holding seven compact discs in his hands.

"You mean you're going to buy them for me for Christmas!?" the young sibling asked cheerfully, his eyes sparkling.

"Er-"

"I knew you had to be nice sometime! Thanks!"

To the light haired remnants surprise, Kadaj hugged him before putting back the CDs and going off toward the television section.

"But what's he going to do with those new CDs anyway? All he uses is Niisan's iPod," Loz pointed out.

"And Niisan gets his music from the internet. Wait so maybe…"

They were both quiet for a moment as they thought over Kadaj's questionable gift.

"A MP3 player!" they both cried out suddenly.

"They seem to have a lot here, I could probably find one cheaper than an iPod with the same amount of space," the thoughtful sibling planned out. "That should work, since he's expecting something nice from me now."

"Yeah! But then what am I supposed to get him besides chocolate?"

"Wow! That's a really clear picture! Niisan look!"

Cloud went over to the amazed teen and another imaginary sweatdrop appeared next to his head as he realized Kadaj was looking at a flat screen high denifition TV.

"It's nice isn't it? It could fit in my room too!"

"How much does that cost?" the blonde asked nervously. '_He wants a television of all things? Why?!' _

"Umm…oh, says 2000 gil! It says its on sale," the teen said persuasively, putting on his cute 'I want this' face.

The swordsman nearly collapsed at the price, even more at the fact that that was what it was _on sale_.

"Yeah…"

"Oh, they have games too?!"

Kadaj went off again, obviously not seeing how much of a hole in was putting in Cloud's pocket.

"Are you really going to buy him a TV?" the wondering sibling asked, giving the nervous delivery man a questioning look.

"I don't know….only if I have enough after I finish buying everything else. I wonder why he's so expensive?"

"Because he's a kid. All kids are expensive," Yazoo said simply.

They all laughed lightly at this, and Kadaj poked his head out from behind the shelf he was looking at, an offended look on his face.

"Who are you calling a kid?!" he yelled out defensively.

"Certainly not you."

"I didn't think so! Oh, Niisan, come here for a minute, I wanna show you something!"

Linking Cloud's arm with his own, the smiling youth dragged him over to whatever it was he wanted him to see, and/or possibly buy.

When Kadaj was done tagging half of Wal-Mart as what he wanted for Christmas, Cloud decided they should leave, more for the idea of getting the greedy teen out of there than the fact that he was hungry. After buying the gingerbeard cookies and a few other goodies, they left the wonderful store and went to walk back home. Kadaj opened a package of the nicely decorated gingerbread cookies and started eating them as they made their way.

"Kadaj, put your coat on," the blonde reminded the teen, as they were approaching the entrance which would lead them outside.

The hungry youth paused his eating to put on his coat sloppily, before resuming his walking. He didn't bother to put on anything else.

"Kadaj-"

"It's okay Niisan, I'll be fine. Really. It's troublesome putting all that on when we're not even that far away from home. "

With that, he walked out into the dark cold nonchalantly as he ate his cookies, still warm from the heat in the mall. As they made their way home, he started to feel the bitter chill, but wasn't in the state to put on anything since he was the one carrying the bags. They approached a familiar spot and Cloud grabbed Kadaj suddenly.

"What-"

"The ice!"

"Oh…you know, I could just blast it away."

"Not in _public_."

"No one's even around! It'll only take a second."

"Kadaj, don't-"

Sighing impatiently, the teen quickly activated his materia and shot a blast of energy at the ice, which shattered and flew off in random directions, the remaining bits melting from the heat. The teen walked easily through the now clear area and smirked at Cloud in a 'I told you so' way. The blonde only smiled in return and followed him, the others behind him.

Looking around at the mall gave each of them- well except Kadaj, since he was only concerned with himself- an idea of what they could buy each other. The next morning, since Kadaj was still asleep, they all quietly discussed what they would get him, and Cloud wrote the amount of gil he would need down on a piece of paper.

_Kadaj's Christmas List  
__Clothing- 200 gil  
__Box of Chocolate- 20 gil  
__Two pairs of sneakers- 80 gil  
__Necklace- 15 gil  
__MP3 player- 220 gil  
__Cell phone- 270 gil  
__PSP- 200 gil  
__Games for PSP- 80 gil  
__Box of candy canes- 20 gil  
__Flat Screen TV (if enough) 2000 gil  
__Total: 1105 gil, ( 3105). _

_'Not bad,' _Cloud thought to himself, as he had more than that in his account right now. He wasn't sure if he could fit the TV though.

The rest of the morning was peaceful and at around noon, they expected Kadaj to get up, but he didn't. Half an hour later, he still wasn't awake. Finally, at one in the afternoon, the door of the teen's room opened, and he strolled out slowly, not looking lively like he normally would.

"Niisan…" he started and he sounded stuffy, which was something that wasn't normal. "I don't feel good…I feel hot, and I can't breathe through my nose. And-"

He sneezed suddenly and the blonde sighed, shaking his head.

"You don't look that good either," Yazoo added, as his younger brother's normally pale face was flushed from his fever.

"Good to hear," the ill teen said sarcastically before coughing.

"Oh boy, you've got quite the sickness," Cloud said with concern in his voice, pressing the back of his hand against the youth's sweaty forehead. "Let me get a thermometer, you're really hot."

The blonde went off to the bathroom quickly and Yazoo shook his head.

"Why do you always have to learn things the hard way?"

"Look, I didn't know I could get sick!"

"Why? Just because we aren't human doesn't make us invincible."

"I'm sick, could you at least _try _to be nice to me?"

"It's not that I wouldn't want to be, but you aren't exactly a sweetheart yourself," the middle brother said honestly. "Unless of course Niisan is concerned."

"Yeah, how come you're only nice to him?"

"Because he doesn't annoy me!"

"Oh and you're just a little angel?"

Kadaj glared daggers at his sarcastic sibling, but dropped the expression as Cloud returned from the bathroom holding a meter type thing with numbers on it.

"What's that?"

"A thermometer. It'll measure your temperature. Lift your tongue and hold this in your mouth for three minutes while I get you medicine."

The curious teen held the cool meter in his mouth as the worried swordsman went off back toward the bathroom to see if he had any suitable medicine to treat the teen. To his dismay, he found out all he had was aspirin.

"I'm going to have to go out to buy medicine. Yazoo, take care of him until I get back," Cloud instructed as he grabbed his coat.

"Okay, that's no problem," the intelligent remnant said nonchalantly, as he had read about a few basic medical treatments for common illnesses in _'Modern Human Life for Dummies'. _

"I'll try to get back as soon as I can okay?" the blonde said, looking at the teen.

Kadaj nodded, before closing his eyes in pain as his head throbbed when he shook it.

The blonde went off and after a couple minutes, Yazoo took the thermometer out of the teen's mouth.

"That tastes weird…"

"Well, what did you expect it to taste like? Wow 101 degrees."

"Is that bad?"

"Considering the normal temperature is 98.6, you're about three degrees off scale. You might have an infection."

The teen's eyes widened and Loz gasped.

"I don't know what that is, but it doesn't sound good."

"Just because I didn't have a hat on?!"

"Well your coat wasn't on properly either."

"Grrr…"

"You'll live, lemme just get you ice to bring your temperature down. Loz, see if we have any tissues."

The oldest sibling went off to find tissues and after a moment, Yazoo handed Kadaj a towel full with ice, similar to what Niisan had given him when he hit his head. Pressing it against his forehead, the teen coughed again just as Loz returned with a box of tissues.

"Found some!" he announced happily, placing it in front of his head congested brother.

Putting the towel down, the teen took a tissue, and another tissue, and quite a few others as he kept blowing his nose, attempting to clear out his nostrils, to no avail.

"I _still_ can't breathe through my nose!" the annoyed youth said, after about half the tissue box was empty.

"That won't go away for awhile," Yazoo informed, looking disdainfully at the tissue-filled garbage can. "Here, drink this in the meantime."

He placed a cup of tea in front of Kadaj, who looked at it distrustfully.

"What's in this?"

"Just drink it."

Sighing, Kadaj picked up the cup and took a sip of the substance before making a face.

"Yuck, this taste horrible! It needs sugar."

Grabbing the sugar container, the teen took a spoon and scooped up some of the white grains before stirring it in his tea. He tasted it again, and then added more.

"Uh Kadaj…when your nose is stuffed, you often can't taste that well-"

"Nonsense, I can taste fine. See, this tastes better now," the teen said happily after adding a fourth spoonful of sugar.

"Is any of that sugar going to help?" Loz asked as he watched Kadaj down the cup of tea.

"Not really…it'll just give him energy."

Cloud returned home a few minutes later to find Kadaj laying on the couch with the towel of ice on his head.

"Feeling any better?"

"Kinda. What did you get?"

The blonde took out a small bottle from the bag he was holding, and the teen looked at the dark liquid inside of it with disgust.

"I know it doesn't look very appetizing, but it'll make you feel better faster," Cloud assured, taking the cap off of the dreaded substance and pouring the proper dose into the small cup that came with it. "Here."

"Niisan, I don't-"

"Just drink it, if you take it fast enough you probably won't even taste it."

Kadaj took the cup and stared at the liquid, not very willing to drink it.

"Take it."

Sighing, the sick teen brought the medicine to his mouth and went to drink it- but the moment it touched his tongue and Kadaj become aware of its horrible strong taste he rushed to the sink to spit it out immediatley.

"That's _disgusting_! I'm not taking that!" he cried out, shaking his head at his Niisan.

"But Kadaj-"

"No!"

"You need to-"

"_No_!"

"If you don't take it-"

"If I can get sick, I can get better just as easy! I just need time!"

"Kadaj, please-"

"I said NO! I'm not taking that medicine, and you're not going to make me!"

The angry youth rushed off to his room and shut the door. Cloud sighed hopelessly, shaking his head.

"He really is like a kid huh?"

"Seems like it."

"Hey I have an idea! Why don't you mix the medicine with something he likes? Since Yazoo said he can't taste that well, he probably won't even notice!" Loz exclaimed, as though he had just made a great discovery.

Both Yazoo and Cloud stared at him in surprise for a moment.

"That's genius Loz!" the blonde agreed, going over toward the fridge and taking out orange juice.

"It's known to happen once in awhile," the oldest remnant said proudly, as his younger brother chuckled.

Pouring orange juice in a tall glass, Cloud added the dose of medicine within it and a bit of sugar before stirring it thoroughly.

"Hope this works…"

The blonde opened the the door to his old bedroom to find Kadaj had taken his iPod again and was listening to it. He looked up and seemed relieved that his caretaker was holding a glass of orange juice instead of that horrible medicine.

"Here-"

"Thanks Niisan!"

Cloud watched as Kadaj took a sip from the glass, surveying for any expression of dislike. But he only found one of approval.

"This tastes good. What did you put in it?"

"Just sugar."

"Oh okay. Niisan, can I have some toast?"

"Sure, what do you want it with?"

"Nothing, I'm not that hungry."

Kadaj took another drink from the glass and Cloud smiled. _'Well, what he doesn't know can't hurt him…'_

The spiky haired man kept up this procedure for three days, and by Thursday the young remnant was back to his normal, lively self and could breathe through his nose again.

"See Niisan, I told you I'd get better on my own. I didn't need any of that nasty medicine," the teen stated confidently at dinner.

"Sure," the blonde said with a smile.

Kadaj noticed the bottle on top of the microwave and noticed with surprise that it was almost empty.

"Where'd the medicine go?"

They were quiet for a moment as they wondered whether they should tell Kadaj the truth or not.

"Well Kadaj, you know how I made sure you had a glass of orange juice every four hours?"

"Yeah?"

"I mixed the medicine in it and then added sugar so you wouldn't notice."

A dumbfounded look came onto the teen's face and his brothers couldn't help but laugh at the expression.

"You tricked me?!"

"And it worked too! Brilliant idea Loz," Yazoo complimented.

"Thanks!"

"It was _your_ idea?"

"Yeah I thought it would work well."

"But you feel better right?" Cloud pointed out, possibly saving Loz from a fireball of fury.

"Yeah…" the teen admitted. "Thanks Niisan."

"But I was-"

"He was the one who bought the medicine, not you!"

"You're welcome Kadaj," Cloud said, chuckling at the pride shattered expression on Loz's face.

"See that's what I mean! Even when we help him he doesn't thank us!"

"'Course not, it's Kadaj. The day he thanks us for help will be the same day he'll wear a pink apron and serve us cake."

They all, even Kadaj, laughed at this.

* * *

About a week later, Cloud had gathered a nice 6000 gil from his deliveries, as he was getting paid more due to the weather conditions. With this large sum of money, he woke them up all up early Saturday morning to get to the mall before it got too crowded to officially go Christmas shopping. As they arrived at the place, he gave them each 1500 gil to spend on gifts and then they all scattered, promising to return back at the Chrstmas tree at two in the afternoon.

Kadaj honestly hadn't thought much about what to buy his family, and started thinking as he walked through the place.

_'I'll get something for Niisan first, he's most important. But what does he need? He has his iPod, a laptop, I think he has enough clothes…maybe a phone? Oh wait, I saw a phone at Wal-Mart that was also a music player! He'd like that, that way he'd only carry one thing around instead of two. What else…oh, I almost forgot, he has an ear piercing…he could use a new earring! I could get him one at that place with the clothes that I liked…and maybe a chain too. And…a big box of chocolate! And…a scarf? _

The thinking teen chuckled at this. Well he _did_ need one. With that information, he went off to buy the blonde his gifts. About half an hour later, he had it all, and left Wal-Mart, going back into the mall which was slowly getting more crowded. Now to ponder over what to get his blood relatives.

_'What on earth would Yazoo want? He doesn't even use anything…all he does is…READ! That's it! I'll get him books…but what kinda books? Maybe something about animals or space or whatever, he likes all that boring stuff. What else…something for him to do…puzzles? Yeah, like those brain puzzle things…he'll like those. And…chocolate! Now Loz…he doesn't do ANYTHING…he isn't smart enough for puzzles…uh…maybe a few gift cards so he can get whatever he wants? That would work…and he eats a lot. I'll buy him cookies and stuff. That wasn't too bad._

Smirking at his achievement of figuring out what to buy them, he went off once again. As he walked back toward the Christmas tree, he counted 300 gil left over. He noticed the area he was in was pretty crowded and it seemed like people were waiting in line. But for what? He noticed there was a little stage by the tree and suddenly a person wearing clothing like those short people in those Christmas programs appeared, dancing oddly.

"Are you guys ready for Santa?" the young woman dressed as an elf shouted eagerly.

Kadaj jumped as the children waiting in line screamed their reply of "YEEAAAAH!" '_Why do children always have to scream everything? Geez…'_

Suddenly, Santa Claus came out from behind the chair and the teen covered his ears as the children screamed again in joy.

"Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!" the guy dressed as Santa cried out merrily, and more screams followed after that.

Kadaj watched as each kid sat on Santa's lap, and told him what they wanted for Christmas, got a picture, and then the jolly man gave them a present before they left. As much as the short tempered youth hated children, he had to admit it was a cute sight to see.

"Finished with everything Kadaj?"

The beautiful remnant turned to see his family, all of them holding bags as well.

"Yeah, Niisan, I have 300 gil left over."

"Not bad. Come on, we have to get home and wrap them."

"Okay!"

Once again, they made their way to go back home, but halfway through Loz spotted a bakery and, hungry as he was, asked Cloud if he could buy something. The blonde gave him a decent amount of gil and told him to get him something for each of them. Yazoo went along with him, and Kadaj noticed a bench at a snow covered park not far from them.

"We could sit there until they come back," he suggested.

"Good idea."

Carrying their Christmas goods across the street and into the park, they sat on the bench which was under a tree.

"You know, I don't like the cold and all, but I like Christmas. It's fun shopping for gifts, and looking at all nice decorations and stuff," the cheerful beauty said. "I wish it was Christmas all the time."

The listening swordsman smiled.

"If it was Christmas all the time then I would be broke."

Kadaj giggled, and looked up suddenly, something catching his attention.

"What a weird plant, I've never seen white berries before."

Cloud blinked and looked to see what the questioning teen was talking about. He nearly fell off of the bench.

"What is that?"

"Its…its…mistletoe," the blonde said quietly, color rushing to his cheeks.

"Oh. Niisan why are you blushing?"

"No…nothing…"

"You're a bad liar you know. What is it?" the curious teen asked, moving closer to the blushing blonde which didn't help the situation.

"It's just…when…"

"Just say it Niisan!"

"When you're under mistletoe, you're supposed to kiss whoever is under it with you," Cloud managed to say, looking down at the snow.

Kadaj became silent as he felt the heat rise in his face as well. Having no experience or knowing much about kissing at all made him feel quite uncomfortable at the moment, not even counting that they were in public.

"Oh…"

An awkward silence formed between them as they averted their gazes from each other. Kadaj started twisting his fingers like he often did when he was nervous and kept glancing at Cloud to see if he was going to do anything. After careful thought, the blonde finally decided on something that was safe and not so embarrassing. Looking at Kadaj, who he noticed was still looking at the ground, he moved closer and simply kissed the flustered youth on the cheek. Turquiose eyes widened slightly in surprise, but the blonde's lips on his skin gave him a tingly, happy feeling and he smiled. A moment later Cloud pulled away and finally their eyes met each other again for a second before they both smiled merrily, eyes twinkling.

"Hey! We got the pastries!" Loz yelled suddenly from across the street, startling them both.

"They didn't see us did they?" Kadaj asked, a bit paniky.

"No, they just got out of the place a second ago."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Come on, before they notice anything."

They both hurriedly grabbed their bags and went back across the street, trying to act nonchalant about what just happened. Nonetheless, Kadaj felt a bit more bouncier than normal due to the little mistletoe incident, and as usual, Yazoo always noticed such things.

"What are you so happy about?"

"Mind your business!"

* * *

At their return home, they ate their pastries, before they each grabbed a roll of wrapping paper and some tape. The three remnants retrated into their rooms to wrap their gifts, while Cloud stayed in the living room. Once they were all done, they placed the presents under the tree and now only had to wait for Christmas.

Soon enough, the 25th of December came, and Cloud was sleeping peacefully in his former bed. Kadaj woke up suddenly, glanced at the time, and then at the calendar on the wall before grinning as he saw what day it was.

"It's Christmas! Niisan get up!" he cried out happily, throwing himself on the snoozing blonde. "Get up get up get UP!"

"Kadaj, what time is it?" the blonde asked groggily, slowly opening his eyes.

"Who cares what time it is, its Christmas! Wake up!"

The excited youth was now bouncing on the swordsman to get him up and finally Cloud turned over, causing Kadaj to fall off of him and land softly at the end of the bed.

"Alright, I'm up!"

"Good! Lemme go wake up the others!"

With energy Kadaj never usually had at eight in the morning, he bounced off the bed and left the room to wake up his siblings.

Slamming Yazoo's door open, and he went and jumped on his older sibling.

"GAH! Kadaj what-"

"It's Christmas get up!"

The silver haired teen pulled the covers off of the thin man and put on his lights.

"GET UP!"

The energetic teen then moved to the room next door and repeated the same procedure to wake up Loz.

Once they all had gotten out of bed and Cloud had prepared coffee for them all, except Kadaj who _really _didn't need any, the blonde went and took the presents out from under the tree, giving them to whoever it belonged. In a few minutes, they all had a neat pile of gifts in front of each of them.

"In case any of you didn't notice, the messily wrapped ones are Loz's."

"Hey, I tried!"

They all laughed before starting to open their presents.

Kadaj practically ripped the wrapping paper off of his gift, before crying out in glee.

"A PSP! Yay! Thanks, Niisan."

"Oh, that thing you can play games on? Cool!"

"Thanks for the scarf Loz…its…colorful," Yazoo said, trying to sound optimistic as he held out the red, green, pink and yellow striped neck wear.

"No problem," the oldest remnant replied, not noticing Kadaj's laughter at the item.

"And it has a matching hat…"

The amused teen fell over laughing and Cloud couldn't help but chuckle himself.

"Hmpf, why don't you see what he got you?" the slightly irritated man aimed at his younger brother who was reduced to a laughing heap on the floor.

"Fine!"

Grabbing an oddly wrapped present, the teen opened it and saw Loz had gotten him a bag of assorted candy.

"Oh, thanks Loz," Kadaj said happily, smirking at Yazoo who only rolled his eyes.

"Your welcome!"

"Oh wow, a chocolate phone?!" Cloud suddenly exclaimed, staring at the small box in surprise.

"They make phones out of chocolate?!"

"It's not made out of chocolate, that's just what it's called."

"Oh."

"Thank you, Kadaj…it's really nice."

"You're welcome Niisan," the teen replied happily, pleased that the blonde liked his gift.

"Cool, a new phone! Thanks Yazoo!" Loz cried out cheerfully.

"He got me a phone too!"

"And Niisan got me one," the middle brother announced. "So we all have new phones now."

"Thank you for the watch Yazoo," Cloud said, in a bit of disbelief at how nice it was.

"Wow, it has diamonds on it!" Kadaj cried out, peeking over. He suddenly looked for another gift from his smart sibling to see if it contained diamonds.

"Sudoku puzzles? Thanks, Kadaj I always wanted to try these out…"

"Thought you would."

"Gift cards! Awesome!"

"Candy canes? Never had one, but they look good!"

"Godiva chocolate? Nice."

"An earring? Heh, wasn't expecting that…"

"A MP3 player?! And it's gray! It looks so cool! You do love me after all!"

They all spent the next ten minutes opening their gifts, until only one was left in front of Kadaj. It was bigger than all his other presents and they surveyed it curiously.

"Open it!" Loz encouraged.

"Okay okay!"

Cloud got up to serve himself more coffee, a smile on his face as he heard Kadaj taking the wrapping paper off of his gift. Shortly after, he heard the amazed teen gasp.

"NO WAY!"

The frantic teen tore the rest of the paper off and screamed with joy as his brothers stared at his gift in disbelief.

"He got me it! My TV! My flat screen high definition LCD TV! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"

"Neither can I."

"Woooow…"

Before Cloud could reach for his cup of coffee, he was tackle hugged by the excited teen, who squeezed him tightly.

"I love you, I love you, I love you SO MUCH thank you Niisan! Thanks so much, you're the best EVER!"

"You're welcome, I love you too," the golden haired man said chuckling, hugging Kadaj back just as tightly.

"I'm going to go put that up right now!" the teen said excitedly, grabbing the box and dragging it into his room.

Kadaj returned from his room an hour later, a satisfied look on his face as he sat down to eat the delicious breakfast Niisan had cooked for them.

"You put the TV up already?" Yazoo asked, surprised.

"Yeah, it was easy, it had an instruction manual."

After breakfast, the two older remnants followed Kadaj into his room to take a look at the TV, which clear picture and sound astounded them.

"Wow…it's really nice…" Loz complimented, eyes glued to the TV.

Five minutes later the irritated teen ordered his siblings to get out of his room.

The rest of the day they all spent time dealing with their gifts; Kadaj listened to his MP3 in one ear, watched TV and played on his PSP all at the same time; Yazoo started reading one of the many books he was given and finished it within a couple hours, then started on solving Sudoku puzzles; Loz programmed his new phone and ate the sugar cookies Kadaj had given him as he watched TV; Cloud downloaded music on his chocolate, set his watch to the proper time, put on his new small silver hoop earring, and put away the clothing he and Kadaj had received in their closet.

Toward ten o clock at night, they all were a bit tired from getting up so early. The two older remnants drifted off toward their rooms to sleep soon afterward, while the teen leaned on the blonde as they watched this Christmas movie together. By the time it was finished, Kadaj had fallen fast asleep on Cloud's chest. Smiling, the tired swordsman shut off the TV and carried the teen off toward their bed, gently placing him on the mattress and pulling the covers over him. After changing into pajamas, the spiky haired man slipped under the covers himself and went to go to sleep, until he noticed Kadaj stirred slightly.

"Nii…Niisan…"

"It's okay, Kadaj, go to sleep."

"No…I…have to return…"

"Return what?"

"The…kiss…for the mistletoe thing…"

Before Cloud comprehend what the sleepy teen meant, he moved himself closer to puzzled man and kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh…"

"Isn't that what I was supposed to do?"

"Well…if you wanted to," the blonde said, smiling from the youth's action.

"You deserved it anyway…thank you for all the stuff," Kadaj said sleepily, laying himself on handsome warrior's chest. "Merry Christmas Niisan."

"Merry Christmas Kadaj," Cloud said quietly as he pulled the sheets over them both before joining the teen in sleep.

* * *

TA DA!!! Still alive?! XD Good! it is 4:35 am now as I type this, but anyway lemme put out some disclaimers and explain some stuffs:

Disclaimer: Don't own Wal-Mart, or My Chemical Romance, or the chocolate phone (its really called that btw, its a pretty sweet phone/MP3 ) or Godiva, which has the best chocolate EVA!!!! Or the PSP. Actually i do own my own PSP but of course I didnt create it.

Stuffs you should know: For those of you who don't know, Sudoku is a pretty tough number brain game. You have these little squares, inside of bigger squares, which together make a big square. (Yeah getting real descriptive with explanations here...) Some of the little boxes have any of the numbers 1-9 in them and the rules are you can't have the same number in a row, column or box. o.o Yeah.

Thats about it. SO DID YOU LIKE IT?! HUH?! XD If the CxKness bothered u a bit im sorry, but it couldnt be helped. Anyway, I hoped u had a laugh reading cuz I surely did! so LEAVE ME PRETTY REVIEWS!! I'll take them as Christmas presents, which I'll be opening when I get up at like two in the afternoon XD So tired...anyway, thank u guys again, love u all and MERRY FREAKIN CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY GOD DAMN NEW YEAR!!


End file.
